Gabriel Voisin was born in 1880, in Belleville-sur-Saone. As a young man he studied industrial design in Lyons. In 1908, Voisin was credited with building Europe’s first manned, engine-powered, heavier-than-air aircraft capable of sustained flight.
Gabriel and his brother Charles started the company “Appareils d’Aviation Les Freres Voisin,” which became the world’s first commercial aircraft factory. At the beginning of World War I, the factory changed gears and supplied more than 10,000 aluminum planes for the war effort.
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