JODEL
& ROBIN CONSTRUCTION LISTS
Compiled
by David Wise
CONTENTS
JODEL-DERIVED
DESIGNS
ROBIN
METAL & COMPOSITE DESIGNS
PRODUCTION
LISTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INDEX - By
type
INDEX -
Cross-reference by registration
You may copy information from this website only for your own personal use. Please contact me if you want to exploit this information commercially or re-publish any of it in any book, magazine, or electronic medium. To maintain currency, do not copy these registers or production lists onto any other website. Instead provide a link to this site. This information has been compiled from a variety of second-hand sources and cannot be guaranteed. You use it entirely at your own risk. |
The Avions Jodel company was established by the test pilot Edouard Joly and designer Jean Delemontez to exploit a successful polygonal-wing design developed by Delemontez. This started with the single-seat D9 in 1948 and two-seat D11 family from 1950. Jodel only built a few aircraft themselves. Most were built by several other commercial licenced-production companies and from plans by amateur builders, including several French flying clubs which built aircraft for their own use. The concept was further developed by Delemontez with the five-seat D140 and two-seat D150 built by SAN, and by Pierre Robin, which started from the DR100 family of 3/4-seater designs and evolved into large-scale production of nosewheel variants.
Many Jodel models are still in production today in the form of commercially-manufactured Robin aircraft, and amateur-built aircraft to plans supplied by Avions Jodel/SAB in France and also by Frank Rogers in Australia (now available from Graham Clark), Falconar in Canada (these were available from Manna Aviation in Australia but the website has ceased?) and Sandalwood in the U.K (who succeeded Airworld (UK) Ltd in 2017).
Some basic notes are included at the start of the list for each individual family.
Brief historical and technical details of the individual models are available in Airlife's General Aviation by Rod Simpson.
An excellent history of the personalities and technical evolution of the Jodel marque, is 'Jodel Aircraft' by Xavier Masse, published in French by Nouvelles Editions Latines. An English translation is available on CD from Graham Clark.
These lists cover both commercially-built and amateur-built models. I have included all known commercial production lines, including several in France and those in Spain, Switzerland and Germany, along with other attempts to start production in Italy and USA. The amateur-builts include the variants designed by Chris Falconar in Canada and Frank Rogers in Australia as well as the unmodified Jodel plans sold by them, and also several French 'one-offs'. As well as the production lists, there is a cross-reference by registration.
The total so far is over 6,000 completed aircraft. With the Robin DR401 and the ULM version of the D20 in commercial production, and amateur-builders producing many of the recent D18, D19 and D20 models as well as a continuing trickle of the older designs and one-offs, the list is continuing to grow.
There have been several Jodel derived on-offs which have been registered under the name of the builder. These have generally been appended to the listings of the most appropriate model.
Jodel Models
The Delemontez-designed model designations are generally structured with the core model number followed by an additional numerical digit and/or letter indicating the variant. Most of these are summarised from Masse's book, except for D17 which is from: http://aero-passion.pagesperso-orange.fr/les_avions_jodel_242.htm
The pre-war D1 to D8 models were various configurations with flat wings.
The post-war basic designs with the trademark Jodel polygonal wing were:-
D9 single-seater mainly with VW engines. Large scale commercial and amateur production.
D10 three seater developed by Piere Robin into the DR100/105/1050 series mainly with Continental 100 hp or Potez 105 hp engine. Commercial production as DR100 family by CEA (Robin) and SAN plus recent amateur-builts.
D11 two seater mainly with Continental 65 or 90
hp engines. Large scale commercial and amateur production.
(note that there were so many D11 variants that their
designations overflowed into the unused D12 series).
D12 design study for an aerobatic tandem two seater with 235 hp engine, similar to Nord 3200. Cancelled.
D13 design study for a steel-tube-and-fabric retractable four-seater as Norecrin replacement. Cancelled.
D14 five-seater with 180 hp engine. Became D140 Mousquetaire series. Commercial production by SAN plus recent amateur-builts.
D15 two-seater with 100 hp engine. Became D150 Mascaret series. Commercial production by SAN plus recent amateur-builts.
D16 design study for enlarged D14 three-row six-seater (or 500 kg cargo) with 235 hp engine. Cancelled following bankruptcy of SAN in 1968.
D17 design study for a single seater derived from the D9: possibly a racer?
D18 light-weight two-seater design for amateur building. Large scale amateur production, many as ULM's.
D19 nosewheel version of D18 for amateur building.
D20 deeper-fuselage development of D19. Limited commercial production as ULM. Evolved into D21.
DR200/220/221/250 family - developments of D10/DR100 by Pierre Robin. Commercial production by CEA/ Av Pierre Robin.
DR253/300/400/401/500 family - nosewheel developments of DR200 by Pierre Robin. Large-scale commercial production by CEA/ Av Pierre Robin..
In addition to designs evolving from the Jodel concept, the Avions Pierre Robin Company produced a variety of metal and composite aircraft designed by Chris Heinz and Pierre Robin. These have been included here for completeness and have been added to the registration cross-reference index.
CEA was renamed as Avions Pierre Robin in 1974, continuing manufacture at Dijon-Darois. It was taken over by the Apex Group in 1988, though it continued to use Robin as its trading name. Apex also took over some other French aviation companies, including Mudry, the builders of the CAP 10 and CAP 20 family of aerobatic aircraft, which had previously taken over the old SAN Jodel factory at Bernay, and were also providing support for the Jodel D140's.
The Apex Group encountered financial problems which resulted in a restructuring, though most aircraft production continued. This resulted in the manufacturing division being renamed as Constructions Aeronautiques de Bourgogne (CAB) from Jan 2002 and this became the registered manufacturer, though Robin and CAP have continued to be used as trademarks.
The R2120/2160 production line and worldwide rights were sold in late 2004 to Alpha at Hamilton in New Zealand.
Fresh financial problems led to the separate cessations of production by both Alpha and Apex/CAB/Robin in 2008. Robin's problems stemmed primarily from the failure of the Thielert company whose diesel engines were being used extensively in new Robin aircraft.
Alpha has been re-financed and restarted limited production in 2011, completing the airframes already under way, but then did not produce any further new aircraft.
Thielert engines re-started production in 2011 using the model name Centurion (see http://www.centurion-engines.com/). They now offer both 135 hp and 155 hp diesel engine options. They were then taken over by Continental in 2013, and the engines are now named as Continental Diesel, see http://www.continentaldiesel.com/
Robin DR400 production has been re-formed, but it has taken some time for the situatuion to stabilise. The Robin type certificates are held by CEAPR, and they are licencing production of new aircraft and spares. Spares are available from them, see http://www.ceapr.com/.
There was an attempt to restart Robin aircraft production by Finch Aircraft in March 2010 was unsuccessful and Finch was liquidated in April 2012. Their website has been removed. One new aircraft was registered giving Finch as the manufacturer.
Robin New Aircraft (see http://www.robin-aircraft.com ) were then successful in restarting manufacture. They were granted EASA Production Organisation Approval in September 2011 and restarted production at Dijon with first delivery in Jan 2012.
The DR400 family, which had been in production for more than 40 years, was upgraded in 2014, including a 10 cm wider cockpit. It is now marketed as DR401, though retaining the DR400 type approved model designation for registration purposes..
Following quality issues with main spars in some arcraft, the company again ran into financial difficulties, and this led to a liquidator being appointed in November 2023.
The official announcement is on:
https://www.bodacc.fr/telechargements/COMMERCIALES/PDF/A/2023/20230224/1/BODACC_A_PDF_Unitaire_20230224_02826.pdf
There is a message on the Robin Company website:
https://www.robin-aircraft.com/2023/11/communique-officiel-novembre-2023/
Work on these lists started in the 1980's with the intention that they should form an Appendix to a book on the history of the Jodel family by another author. The book project was abandoned, but I have continued to update and develop the lists and they are now being made available separately here.
These lists have been cross-checked against several independent sources. In some cases conflicting information has been found; only approximate dates and sketchy details are known for many early aircraft; several aircraft have changed model designation when they have been re-engined or rebuilt; occasionally the official records are ambiguous; and detailed fates are not known for several of the cancellations. It is inevitable that there will be a few errors and omissions. You use this data at your own risk!
The listing also includes two homebuilt models which utilise recycled old factory-built Robin fuselages. These are the Hugueny DH251 appended to the DR250 listing, and the Tissot-Charbonnier Oceanair TC-120/160/180 family appended to the DR500 listing.
Notes on the interpretation of national registers is on the website homepage.
A primary reason for publishing the list is to provoke feedback. I welcome any additions, corrections or more detailed information, however small. Please e-mail: dave.wise@btinternet.com
ROBIN FACTORY NUMBERS
Thanks to information from Robin factory records supplied by Joel Thomas, factory line numbers have been listed for the models for which they were assigned, starting from the late 1970's. During manufacture at Dijon, the airframes are identified by factory line numbers. The manufacturer's serial numbers (the registered construction numbers) are assigned only at a late stage of assembly, and are often not in sequence with the factory numbers, occasionally by a large margin when an airframe was used for tests or development. This information is provided here so that anyone who visited the factory and noted factory numbers on the line can now translate these into identities. Note particularly that for the ATL model, the factory numbers and construction numbers are in the same number range, occasionally the same but usually differing by just a few.
The initial work on compiling these lists was undertaken by David Wise and Robin Sauvary starting in 1990. It has subsequently been maintained and updated from Air Britain News, other books, magazines and websites, and personal contacts.
Several other people have made major contributions, many of them contacted through Air Britain. In particular, thanks are due to Eric Fogwill and Don Gill for a detailed search through their early registration archives, Roger Braithwaite and Jean-Paul Dubois for copies of their own substantial researches in this area, Frank Rogers in Australia for details of the aircraft built to his plans, Kay Hagby in Norway, Anders Ljungberg in Sweden, Peter-Michael Gerhardt in Germany, William Laundry and Mike Ody in Canada and Richard Currie in New Zealand for details from their national registers; Tony Conyers, David Partington and Ian Burnett for checking the lists and resolving several queries; Rod Simpson, Chris Falconar, David Gray, Richard Hamblin, Rainer Haufschild, Ernie Horsfall, and Michael Jones of Rollasons for additional material; Bernard King, John Crawford, Tony Pearce, Ken Dalton and Stuart MacConnacher for the loan of material from their own libraries. Also Lutz Gebhardt for his website with detailed work on the DR1050 family, and feedback from several individual owners contacted through the Jodel e-mail group or who have found this website by an internet search on their own registrations.
Published sources include Ken Ellis's book on British Homebuilt Aircraft, Rod Simpson's 'Airlife's General Aviation' book, Jacques Chillon's 'Fox Papa' book on French homebuilts, The Jodel lists on the http://historique.wassmer.free.fr/ website, and various national aircraft registers published over the years by Air Britain, LAAS, WLAG, GAS, and MCP. The lists have been cross-checked against several registration websites, including the collection of historic national registers available from Pascal Brugier and the current on-line registers provided by an increasing number of national airworthiness authorities, including France and the UK, while American survivors have been checked on the Landings and FAA websites.
A special thank-you to Joel Thomas, who was a manager at the Dijon factory and who sent me a complete CEA/Robin production list. This has provided a lot of previously unpublished information and answered several long-standing queries. Particularly this includes the factory line numbers for several models, and several initially reserved registrations which were not taken up. For these, the pages on the website have been extended to accommodate the extra information.
Finally thanks to the UK Jodel Club, particularly the late Peter Underhill who started it, and Chris and Mavis Parker who ran it from 1983 to 2005.
INDEX - Cross-reference by registration
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