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Potez was a French aircraft
manufacturer founded as Aéroplanes Henry Potez by Henry
Potez at Aubervilliers in 1919. The firm began by refurbishing
war-surplus SEA IV aircraft, but was soon building new examples
of an improved version, the Potez VII. During the inter-war years,
Potez built a range of small passenger aircraft and a series
of military reconnaissance biplanes that were also licence-built
in Poland. In 1933, the firm bought flying boat manufacturer
CAMS. The company was nationalized in 1936, following which it
was merged with Chantiers aéronavals Étienne Romano,
Lioré et Olivier, CAMS and SPCA in order to form the Société
nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Sud-Est (SNCASE)
on the 1st of February 1937. Potez's factories in Sartrouville
and Méaulte were taken over by SNCAN and the Berre factory
went to SNCASE. After World War II, Potez was re-established
as Société des Avions et Moteurs Henry Potez at
Argenteuil but did not return to the prominence that the company
enjoyed prior to nationalisation. In 1958, the company bought
Fouga to form Potez Air-Fouga, but when Potez's last design,
the 840 (a small turboprop airliner) failed to attract customers,
it was forced to close. The remaining assets were purchased by
Sud-Aviation in 1967. |
