Oops! I really forgot about Desoutter. Probably because they make more air tools than power tools. Moreover, I thought that they are an American company, but not French. Shame on me
Desoutter is, or was, a British company, and all of the classic Desoutter air tools were British designed and British made.
The original Desoutter business was manufacturing artificial limbs from aluminium, but they got into designing their own tools and hence Desoutter air tools came about. Their factory was in Hendon, North London, for many years. (Both my parents came from the Hendon area and Desoutter, together with the photographic equipment manufacturer 'Johnsons' were the biggest employer there. Sadly, Mum, and Dad for a couple of years, worked for Johnsons, so I have a loft full of photographic equipment but had to buy all my air tools - you win some and lose some!)
Pretty much 'industry standard' here in the U.K. I have many Desoutter tools, and the quality (of the British made tools) cannot be beaten. If there's a downside it's that the tools are more geared to the industrial or aerospace environment, and some are very specialised. The 'OEM' of Desoutter tools was Desoutter, they built almost everything 'in house' and could still supply accessories and spares for even very old tools.
Of course, like so many other 'national assets' Desoutter have passed from one owner to another in recent years, none of whom seem to have wanted to maintain the companies position as a manufacturer of only the highest quality tools, and all manner of **** has appeared with the Desoutter name glued on.
Many of the traditional patterns of air tool are still made, but the last I saw was built in Hungary. (If you don't know the individual patterns, you can recognise these by their all metal construction with red handgrips). Better than some options I suppose, but the Desoutter Brothers, who were keen pilots and friends of my Great Uncle, would probably turn in their graves if they knew!
