Mister Airbus dies at 97
 

Sad news, really. Roger Béteille, the first CEO of Airbus, died June 14. A truly amazing person. He worked on the little-known Sud Armagnac, the French response to Lockheed Constellation, and Sud Caravelle, which was almost the ideal plane, if only they listened to Béteille and gave it the cargo space it needed. He then went on to design the A300 and then to sell it to Eastern making it the first real success of the newly formed Airbus.

He was the man behind the "222-inches fuselage". He pushed the idea that European planes should have their instruments in Imperial metrics and that English should be the international language for aviation. Et cetera, et, cetera, et cetera. A truly remarkable man. RIP