Books by Marc Ranjon

In Envolée à deux, Geneviève describes the spark: as a child, Marc attends an air show featuring Marcel Doret in Chauvigny. At fourteen, a first flight in a Stampe at Le Blanc turns the dream into a tangible experience.

He then learns to fly gliders and airplanes. To pay for his flight hours, he tutors students in mathematics. During training courses, comfort matters little: he sometimes sleeps in a hangar. What matters is getting back into the air.

At twenty, Marc joins the Navy. His training takes him to Cognac on the T-6, then to Ajaccio on the Beech 18. Transport missions follow, then maritime patrols on the Neptune P2V7 at Lann-Bihoué.

In his recollections, he also describes severe icing between Corsica and the mainland. The crew manages to reach Istres. The experience lends a whole new weight to the words “flight characteristics” when he uses them in his books years later.

In Ajaccio, he discovers unused gliders in a hangar. With the necessary permissions, he helps return them to flight and trains students after his duty hours. His love of teaching is already evident.

His arrival at the base also left a lasting impression: a red 2 CV with his Vaurien dinghy strapped to the roof. Marc divides his free time between gliding and sailing. Geneviève even recounts his victory in a regatta between civilians and military personnel.

After the Navy, Marc becomes the driving force behind the revival of the Le Blanc flying club. Members build hangars, recover gliders, and restore equipment. He serves as its chief pilot and instructor.

Young people help out at the airfield so they can fly. Among those who join him is Geneviève. Their meeting begins a shared adventure that will continue through business, travel, and books.

Marc and Geneviève start their business in 1967. Centrair becomes a société anonyme in 1970, in Le Blanc, starting with four people and 400 m². Importing Schleicher gliders paves the way for aircraft manufacturing.

Marc stays at the controls in the literal sense: he test-flies the aircraft produced and conducts their acceptance flights. Running the company and knowing the aircraft in flight go hand in hand.

Centrair begins building the ASW 20 under license. The first French-built aircraft rolls out in July 1978 and receives certification in November.

More than 140 ASW 20 F gliders will be built, with over half exported. The team also works with CEAT in Toulouse to develop wingtip “winglets.”

The Pégase makes its first flight in November 1981. Certification follows in June 1982. Collaboration between Centrair’s design office and ONERA results in a high-performance aircraft.

The two-seat Marianne program follows, with participation from ENSICA, ONERA, SUPAERO, and Avions Marcel Dassault. A new chapter in the couple’s industrial venture.

After Centrair, Marc continues as an aviation consultant and expert for insurers and courts. He has also represented manufacturers such as Cessna, Mooney, Grumman, and Mitsubishi in France.

His writing builds on this firsthand experience. For the Cessna volume, aeroVFR mentions four years of work and a pilot with 11,000 flight hours as of 2018. Model histories, performance data, and commentary come together in his encyclopedias.