Dieudonné Joseph Saive was a Belgium arms designer known for his involvement with FN Herstal. Known as the chief designer of FN Herstal for a time, Saive is most well known for his hand in designing some of FN's more iconic products.
History[]
Born in 1888 in Wandre, Saive was picked up by FN Herstal at a young age shortly after he graduated from high school where he worked as a tool designer. Saive fled to the United Kingdom to become a machinist for Vickers when Belgium was invaded during World War I.
After the war, Saive returned to Belgium to work for FN Herstal again; he would become the personal assistant of John Browning shortly before the latter died. After Browning's death, Saive took over as head engineer, and finished up a number of projects Browning was unable to complete before his death, including the Baby Browning and the GP-35 pistol which became the Browning Hi-Power.[1]
With World War II looming, Saive fled to the United Kingdom again, where he would design the SLEM-1[2] and 2[3] (the latter of which would evolve into the FN Model 1949); he would then make his way to Canada to supervise production of Hi-Power pistols produced by John Inglis and Company. After World War II, Saive designed the Universal Carbine which would evolve into the FAL, and worked for FN until he retired in 1954.[1] He died in 1970, aged 82.
Works[]
Saive's works include the following:
- FN Baby Browning, pistol
- Browning Hi-Power, pistol, designed originally by John Browning but finished by Saive
- FN Universal Carbine, assault rifle; would evolve into the FN FAL
- FN FAL, battle rifle
- L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle, battle rifle
- FN Model 1949, self-loading rifle
- SLEM-1, self-loading rifle
- SLEM-2, self-loading rifle, would evolve into the FN Model 1949
- Saive submachine gun, submachine gun