350 kg, allowing for a range of 100 km (63 miles) at 70 km/h (44 mph) or at 60 km/h 37 mph if two people were on board. Plane In 1944, Paul Arzens converted a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber into a VIP transport plane. General Eisenhower, Chief of Staff of the Allied forces in Europe, had the aircraft donated to General Koenig, then military governor of Paris. With the help of workers from the aircraft manufacturer Caudron, Arzens started by removing three tons of armament and armor from the aircraft and replacing the nose of the aircraft and the rear turret with more aerodynamic plexiglas profiles. In the fuselage, he installed a bedroom with two sofas, a living-dining room with four folding tables and twelve seats. The divans were made using car seat fabric. A telephone connected the living room to the cockpit. General Koenig made several trips to Morocco and Algeria with the plane, then handed it over to the French ambassador in Germany. Damaged during a landing, the plane was taken into account by the National Geographic Institute, brought back to France and repaired, but it was scrapped a few months later because the IGN already had about fifteen B-17s, more than it needed for its work. Rail locomotives In 1947 Paul Arzens was placed on the payroll of the French National Railway Company (SNCF) and his first commission for them dates from that same year. Arzens was behind the designs of the BB and CC locomotives and their numerous derivatives which would together dominate the French railway network during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. One of his earlier designs was for the smooth fronted CC7100 series. It was one of these, the CC7107, which broke the electric train speed record in 1955. The record would stand until broken by a TGV in 1981. Arzens was also behind the reverse sloping front window characteristic of the "Nez Cassé" series of locomotives, which he said had been inspired by the form of a "sprinter on the starting block". References External links Painting of Paul Arzens: Baie de Bénodet at Artnet 1903 births 1990 deaths Industrial designers French designers École des Beaux-Arts alumni