Toulouse: tribute to Dewoitine, this visionary aircraft manufacturer
This Wednesday took place the opening of the exhibition “Dewoitine, 20 years of aeronautics… 100 years ago”, installed on the gates of the Hôtel du Département, in Toulouse. It is on view until November 30.
A hundred years ago, the Dewoitine “D.1” aircraft left the Toulouse factories, integrated into premises located on Boulevard Pasteur in Toulouse. Designed by Emile Dewoitine, the “D.1” was then the first all-metal single-seat fighter plane, which made its first flight in Pau on November 18, 1922. This is how the career of the bubbling Emile Dewoitine began, whose planes subsequently evolved in Italy, Czechoslovakia, Japan, Argentina or Switzerland.
The exhibition “Dewoitine, 20 years of aeronautics… 100 years ago”, installed on the gates of the Hôtel du Département, brings together 32 photos attributed to this visionary aircraft manufacturer who marked the history of French aviation and world. These black and white images, with remarkable aesthetics, revealed from the Airbus Heritage collection. They were sent to the Departmental Archives of Haute-Garonne in 2007.
“The interest of such an exhibition is twofold. This is to enhance the Airbus collection, which has 28,000 items and retraces the history of the Dewoitine factories, from 1921 to 1960. The second interest is to recall what this company was in between wars and its place in French aeronautical construction”, explains the exciting Anne Goulet, director of the Departmental Archives and Cultural Heritage of Haute-Garonne. The exhibition shows the men and women who worked in these factories as well as the evolution of the workforce and the premises.
Moreover, some of these production sites are now occupied by Airbus since the aircraft manufacturer is a distant heir to the Dewoitine factories. “Last year, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Dewoitine factory, which is located on the Saint-Eloi site, in Les Minimes. For Airbus, this heritage is very important”, recalls Florent Querol, Director of Institutional Affairs Airbus Operations SAS.
Installed on the occasion of Heritage Days, this exhibition is on view until November 30, boulevard de la Marquette and avenue Honoré Serres.