The Société des Avions Caudron was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 as the Association Aéroplanes Caudron Frères by brothers Gaston and René Caudron. It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for the military in both World War I and World War II. From 1933 onwards, it was a subsidiary of Renault. Alphonse (Gaston) (1882–1915) and René Caudron (1884–1959) Born in Favières, Somme to parents who farmed nearby in Romiotte, the Caudron brothers were educated at a college in Abbeville. Gaston, as Alphonse was always known, intended to become an engineer but his education was cut short by health problems; René was interested in the development of mechanics and was a sportsman. After military service in an artillery regiment, they returned to work on the farm. They began to build their first aircraft, a large biplane, in August 1908. Initially unable to obtain an engine, they flew it as a glider, towed by a horse, and tested it through the summer. In September 1909, they finally flew it under power. By April 1910, they were able to make a return flight of to Forest-Montiers. Gaston Caudron died in an aircraft accident on 15 December 1915 at the airfield at Bron. René continued in the aircraft business until the fall of France at the start of World War II. He died in 1959. Caudron Frères and Caudron-Renault Needing a more convenient base than the farm, the brothers established their factory in nearby Le Crotoy, on the eastern side of the Somme estuary about from Abbeville and with a broad, flat, firm, south facing beach ideal for flying. They set up a flying school there which was functioning by 19 May 1910. This activity flourished and by early 1913 a second school had been set up at Juvisy with a combined capacity of 100–250. The War Ministry sent about 30 student pilots there in 1913. By then the company was based at Rue, Somme. During World War I, the company moved its production to Lyon and Issy-les-Moulineaux, as the Somme plant was too close to the battle front. Designers of many aircraft like the two-seater Caudron G.3 that successfully landed on Mont Blanc in 1921, Caudron produced the trainers in which thousands of pilots got their first flying licence. The Caudron plants at Lyon and Issy-les-Moulineaux produced nearly 4,000 airplanes during World War I. In