In 1906, the engineer Léon Levavasseur and the industrialist Jules Gastambide founded the company Antoinette (Gastambide’s daughter's name) to build their aircraft engines in series. The aircraft manufacturer and pilot Louis Blériot joined them. In two months, a 50 hp V8 engine was developed by Levavasseur in the small factory in Puteaux. More than 200 of them were produced until 1911. From 1908 onwards, the Antoinette company began to manufacture the Antoinette monoplane, equipped with the Antoinette 50 hp V8 engine. Always light, Levavasseur’s engines used direct fuel injection and liquid cooling.