1909 to the present day

1909

When Colonel Roche founded the Ecole Supérieure d’Aéronautique et deConstructions Mécaniques, teaching was conducted over two years based ontheoretical (fluid mechanical, thermodynamics, etc.) and applied (airframeconstruction, engine and balloons) courses supplemented by laboratory andpractical work, visits to factories and personal project work by the students.Even then, teaching was entrusted to the best engineers from the specialitiesconcerned. This has endured as being one of the School’s major assets rightthrough to present times.

1914

Due to the First World War, the School closed down.

1917

To ensure reconstruction towards the end of the War in 1917, the GeneralStaff called back from the front a large number of industrialists, engineersand technicians. The School reopened on 17 November 1917. At that time, the coursewas cut to five months to train three classes of twenty students in 1918. 

1920 to1930

Teaching branched out. Two sections were created for the second year:

    • 1924: the School was entrusted by the government with training of managerial engineers, a new group specialised in aeronautics essentially comprising the élite polytechnicians;
    • 720 pupils graduated over that decade. 

21 May 1930

The École supérieure d'Aéronautiqueet de Constructions Mécaniques became the École Nationale Supérieure del'Aéronautique.

1930 – 1939

    • This period was marked by reorganisation of the French aircraft industry. The School, lately nationalised, obtained bigger premises, among the best equipped in the world, boulevard Victor in XV district of Paris, in the immediate vicinity of the engineering department and the future French Ministry for Air Transport. 
    • 28 June 1930: the first stone of the School was laid.
    • 17 December 1932: inauguration of the new buildings.
    • 26 May 1937: French President Albert Lebrun awarded the Legion of Honour to the School and thus paid tribute to former students who perished at war in the air force (especially during test flights) during the First World War.

1939

The School again closed its Parisianpremises. The archives, part of the library, some machines and laboratoryequipment were taken down to Toulouse to be stored there. The Pérignon barracksthen accommodated the School. Three intake years of students graduated fromToulouse during this period.

End of 1943

As the Germans occupied practicallyall of Metropolitan France, the fall-back to the School in Toulouse becamesuperfluous and there was a return to Paris. 

1945 – 1968

This period marked the rise of theaircraft industry in France. Teaching gradually started to hinge around acommon core with additional specialised options. Other courses were alsocreated (helicopters in 1958, servomechanisms, missile guidance, etc.).

    • 1964: decentralisation of the School towards Toulouse decided on.
    • This became effective in 1968 with students having started their studies in Paris studying in Toulouse and finishing on Paris premises. Thus the School only really became part of Toulouse on graduation in 1970.

1968 to 2007

The transfer of SUPAERO to Toulousefit into a much broader perspective that aimed to reinforce Toulouse’saeronautical and space vocation. Right from the start, transfer of the Schoolwas accompanied by creation of a research centre alongside it with CERT (theCentre d'Études et de Recherche de Toulouse). This involved the emergence of anew campus alongside the Canal du Midi.

      • 1972: the School was renamed École Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace.
      • 1975: SUPAERO was authorised to award the diploma of doctorate from the École Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace independently.
      • 1994: the School became a public body (établissement public à caractère administratif) under the aegis of the Ministry for Defence and has a Board of Governors.

since 1 October 2007

Creation of the Institut Supérieurde l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace with the merger of the SUPAERO and ENSICAGraduate Schools.

1909/2003 : one hundred years of SUPAERO Graduate Program

In 2009, ISAE celebrated the SUPAERO centenary.
Various initiatives marked this event.
The most striking of these was a symposium organized collectively by ISAE and the Amicale entitled " The Aeronautics and the Space, a chance for the future of the planet ".