On our last “Did you know?” we presented EUROAVIA’s foundation, but do you know who was our first President? (Small hint, his name is on the Founding protocol of EUROAVIA)
The first President of EUROAVIA, who is also known as the father of our association, is Jean Roeder. He studied in RTWH Aachen, where he was part of the group of students from Aachen that gathered students from Delft, Pisa, and Paris for the foundation of EUROAVIA. After the foundation, he led the first “central committee”, which nowadays is known as the International Board (IB), which was also formed by a group of students from Aachen.
Roeder graduated from RTWH Aachen in 1961 and started working for MBB Bremen, where he participated in the development of the C-160 aircraft. Later, he worked at Airbus, where he was an important engineer (first in Germany and later in Toulouse). He is remembered by his contribution to the concept of the shared wing on the A330 and A340. He also played a pivotal role in the development of a competitor of the Boeing 747 (the A380).
Roeder not only had an important role and a positive impact for EUROAVIA, but also in the Aerospace Industry.