René Fromentel joined Avions Marcel Dassault in 1951 and worked there throughout his career, from the Mystère II to the Rafale, for which he invented the air intakes.
Born on 8th January 1926, in Dunkirk, he graduated in 1946 from the Ecole Polytechnique, the same year as Serge Dassault.
In 1951, he joined Avions Marcel Dassault, where he spent his entire career extending from the Mystère II to the Rafale, finally retiring in 1991.
He pioneered many important advances in testing methods and test analysis, both in flight and in the wind tunnel. He was also an accepted specialist on spin, its prediction, its initiation and its methods of escape.
An expert in experimental aerodynamics, he was one of the inventors of the Rafale air intake, the first to be capable of achieving Mach 2 flight without the need for any additional devices.
With his strong personality, his undeniable technical authority, rigorous and meticulous in all his work, he knew how to make a joke when appropriate.
René Fromentel passed away on 5th November 2010, at Boulogne-Billancourt, at the age of 84.
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