UNDER THE SIGN OF ZODIAC

Keen to establish his firm's presence in all areas of the conquest of the skies, Mallet changed its name in 1909 to Société Française de Ballons Dirigeables et d'Aviation Zodiac, incorporating the trade name into the company name for the first time. The workshops, in turn, were taken over and renamed Société Zodiac. The year 1911 marked the end of a transition. The enterprise was no longer a craft venture producing to order. It was now an industrial company manufacturing in large runs and bidding for procurement contracts. 

In the meantime, Zodiac had diversified into the manufacture of monoplanes and biplanes. This was an unusual choice, as the airship fraternity generally disdained aviation enthusiasts-and vice versa.

But Maurice Mallet and his engineers harbored the same eclectic passion for lighter- and heavier-than-air. In 1909, they built the first biplane for the famous aviator Maurice Farman.

Swept along by this new momentum, the company even tried its hand at making hydroplanes in 1912 and engines (under a Pickers license) in 1913-14. This initial diversification, however, temporarily ended on the eve of the World War I. At the request of the military authorities, Zodiac suspended these trial ventures and focused exclusively on balloon production. While France's entry into the war meant new contracts, it actually made Zodiac's financial position more precarious. The use of airships soon proved disappointing for strategic bombing. Zodiac created an airplane manufacturing unit wholly separate from its balloon operations. By 1916, the company was delivering two airplanes per week. 

At the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, Zodiac-like all defense contractors-had to plan for peacetime. Orders, however, failed to come. Worse still, the aeronautical market collapsed. Not until mid-1927 did business return to a level in line with Zodiac's corporate objectives. As well as observation balloons, Zodiac was now supplying the French Navy with patrol craft. The V10 semi-rigid airship, completed in 1930, was the most remarkable innovation of this period.