A member of the aviation directorate said, "Young, dedicated and affable, he had all the qualities required to succeed in his difficult task, particularly that of reconciling those two warring brothers, the front and the rear.

[2] He established a statistical office to accurately track airplanes and ground vehicles for the first time, and reorganized the technical, construction and repair services.

[3] Besnard supported the plans of lieutenant-colonel Édouard Barès for large-scale production of airplanes using Hispano-Suiza 8 engines.

[6] He retained his position as secretary of state for aviation in the broad-based cabinet of Aristide Briand formed on 29 October 1915.

[8] Besnard did not have authority over the aircraft industry, in which the manufacturers such as Édouard Michelin and Gabriel Voisin were mainly interested in profiting from their existing designs rather than innovating.

He found grave defects in some Canton-Uni motors made by the Salmson company, who were supported by senator Charles Humbert, a newspaper proprietor.

[5] Besnard was dismissed from office and his post abolished in the aftermath of a Zeppelin raid on Paris on 29 January 1916.

[9] Besnard decided to suspend recruiting in Africa until the end of the war, since the experience of the African troops might undermine their confidence in France.

The commission was dominated by Albert Duchêne of the African department, and the resulting report made it clear that the main priority was to enlarge the French empire in Africa.

He was the rapporteur of the bill to approve the section of the Treaty of Versailles dealing with German colonies on 28 June 1919.

In 1926 Oustric became involved in Snia Viscosa, an Italian maker of artificial silk controlled by the financier Riccardo Gualino.

[1] After the spectacular and fraudulent bankruptcy of Albert Oustric in 1930 a commission of inquiry found that Péret had acted improperly.

[17] Besnard had been seriously involved in the Oustric affair, which caused the fall of the government of André Tardieu in December 1930.

Nevertheless, he was reelected to the Senate in January 1933, and was admitted to the Ligue des droits de l'homme (Human Rights League), which was normally strongly opposed to corruption.

[20] Besnard visited Rome as high-commissioner of the planned 1942 Exposition, but did not meet the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.