The German and Italian occupation of France induced the Vichy government to relocate the design offices of five state-owned aircraft manufacturing companies to the Southern city of Cannes, i.e. in the “free zone” till November 1942. Remaining under the grip of both the occupants, Vichy and the Wiesbaden armistice commission, this concentration was conducive to innovation, via the design and experimentation of processes and prototypes, whereas other French factories had to produce German material. However, the pressure of Italian and especially German occupants led some engineers to take lasting contacts with the Resistance, the Free French and the Allies, or even to flee away. Therefore, the Germans finally closed the site. After the difficult postwar transition, it may be argued that the cluster in Cannes was one of the origins of the recovery of design capabilities in the French aircraft industry