SPAD

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The company Société de Production des Aéroplanes Deperdussin (SPAD) started up in France in 1910-11, and it retained the abbreviation after a name change to Société Anonyme pour l'Aviation et ses Dérivés.

Key persons: Louis Bechereau had been technical director and a designer-manager at Établissements A. Deperdussin, and Louis Blériot, designer and founder of Blériot Aéronautique.

In early 1914, Bechereau and Blériot acquired assets of the Établissements A. Deperdussin which had been placed in receivership in August 1913. and renamed the firm SPAD. Contemporary company literature soon justified the new name of SPAD as an acronym for Société Anonyme pour l'Aviation et ses Dérivés. The company designed and built some 2,500 aircraft during WWI. Over 15,000 additional craft were delivered by numerous subcontractors.

The abbreviation changed its meaning at the time of the acquisition:[1]

In 1913, Blériot headed up a consortium to buy the assets of the bankrupt Deperdussin aircraft company, Société de Production des Aéroplanes Deperdussin, better known as SPAD. Upon taking possession of SPAD’s assets and absorbing them into his own company, he renamed it Société Pour L’Aviation et ses Dérivés, which allowed him to continue use of the SPAD name. SPAD would become a legendary name associated with First World War fighter aircraft from France.
In the post WWI period, the company designed and built aircraft under both the Blériot and SPAD names. Blériot ceased using the SPAD name in 1921 and reverted to the Blériot Aéronautique name.

Bechereau appears to have left SPAD before or during 1918 in order to form Société des Avions Louis Bechereau with Pierre Levasseur in 1918, which seems to leave Blériot as the only founder with an interest in SPAD. According to SD, in 1919, Blériot merged the SPAD establishment into Blériot Aéronautique, although designs originating with the SPAD staff continued to receive SPAD designations well into the 1930s. According to G and 2dG, however, it was in 1921 that the company was restructured and renamed Blériot Aeronautique. 1920Dir40 lists a works called Air Navigation and Engineering Co., Ltd. as having an address at Blériot and Spad Aircraft Works, Addlestone, Surrey, UK.

Template:To fix: Wikidata and French Wikipedia and Italian Wikipedia show the wrong year of ending, 1914 -- which is impossible as SPAD was a major WWI aircraft manufacturer. We need a proper source to fix the claim to say 1921. To fix: [1] (infobox), [2] (infobox), and Wikidata [3]

Patents associated with organization named SPAD

References

Sources


Names Société Anonyme pour l'Aviation et ses Dérivés, Société Pour Aviation et ses Dérives, SPAD
Country France
City Bétheny; Reims; chief plant during war was on Rue du Val d'Or, Suresnes.
Affiliations
Keywords
Started aero 1911
Ended aero Restructured, 1921
Key people Louis Bechereau, Louis Blériot, Pierre Levasseur
Wikidata id