While the name Daher-Socata is new, the roots of the company can be traced back to the beginnings of man’s adventure with the airplane, starting 100 years ago under the name Morane-Saulnier. Over the last century, the company has developed 94 models and produced more than 17,000 aircraft. It also participated in many aviation firsts: the world’s first air race, first Mediterranean air crossing, first machine-gun firing through the propeller system and the first sliding canopy.
Prior to creating his own company, Raymond Saulnier worked for Blériot for the Channel crossing airplane and was the first engineer to publish a book about airplane technology. In 1911 he partnered with his friend Léon Morane, the first aviator, to break the 50 mph speed barrier, and his sportsman brother Robert to develop monoplanes that produced far superior performance compared to the biplanes of the time. They had their first success the same year at the world’s first air race, the Paris-Madrid, won by a Morane flown by Jules Védrines.
