EADS Socata is proud to announce that this year they will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Morane-Saulnier (former name of Socata) MS 760, the first four-seat jet aircraft, which became world’s first business jet. This pioneer plane made its maiden flight on 29th July 1954 and was soon christened Paris when flying the French Air Minister to a NATO presentation in Germany. Targeted mainly to Air Forces (France, Argentina and Brazil), which purchased most of the 155 aircraft produced.
The Mach 0.7 capable Paris raised a lot of interest throughout the world. It even drew the attention of the Beech Aircraft Corporation, which organized a tour of the United States and Canada in 1955, visiting 40 major cities and giving the thrill of the ParisJet to 2,139 happy passengers. A little ahead of its time, the MS 760 gave rise to the second generation of business jets.
A happy few were able to “jet set” on the MS 760 Paris. Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, late Shah of Iran and accomplished pilot, received the first production plane; the second MS 760 went to the Venezuelan billionaire Napoleon Dupouy. Prince Moulay El Hassan, future Hassan II, King of Morocco; Enrico Mattei, CEO of ENI, the national Italian oil company; and Harald Quant, son of the founder of BMW; were among the happy “few” to pioneer business aviation. After 40 years of service, the venerable MS-760 retired from the French Air Force and was replaced by Socata’s TBM 700, offering far superior performance in terms of range, payload capability and operating costs. To date, over 20 of these unique aircraft have been lovingly restored and are still flying.
EADS Socata is the leading general aviation manufacturer in Europe and an industrial partner of major aerospace programs. Wholly owned by EADS, the second largest aerospace and defense company in the world, EADS Socata generated $200 million USD in sales in 2003 and employs 1,080 people in France and the United States.
