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The Jodel
history
extracts from www.Jodel.com
The beginning
The Jodel
design can be traced back to the end of the
second world war when the French government,
recognising the value of light aviation,
purchased considerable numbers of Tiger
Moths and Miles Magisters at a very low
cost. These were then passed on to flying
clubs.
But these
ex-wartime trainers were very fuel
hungry and slow. This left a gap in the
market for Edouard Joly, a private pilot
who lived in the area of Beaune, and his
son-in-law Jean Delemontez, to fill. The
story goes that they fell upon some
pre-war aircraft-quality plywood and an
old 26 hp Poinsard engine and without
formal training in aerodynamics decided
to design their own single-seat light
aeroplane. The wood was turned into a
small, single-seat aircraft with cranked
wings. It was so tiny, particularly
compared to existing training aircraft,
that they called it the D9 Bebe (Baby).
The fact that Delemontez spent so much
time working on the aircraft, rather
than with his wife (Joly's daughter), is
also reported to have something to do
with the naming.
D9 Bebe
Now, that's how the story went, and it's
certainly the stuff that legends are
made of. But the truth is rather
different. Jean Delemontez was en
experienced and trained aeronautical
engineer and Eduard Joly also had many
years experience of aircraft
construction, having built a Pou du Ciel
(Henri Mignet's flying flea) before the
war. The two men were operating a major
aircraft and glider maintenance and
repair establishment before the Jodel
series' design and build efforts
commenced. So the implication that the
material for the first D9 were 'found'
at the back of a hangar is clearly
fabrication, but fun nevertheless.
The prototype D9 at
its first flight Edouard Joly being the
pilot at this very grey winter day with
snow on the runways.
Initially, the
D9 was never intended for any other use than
their own pleasure flying. The performance
of the little single seater was so promising
however, that lots of people, including the
government, were standing in line to
purchase one. Reluctantly, the two men gave
in and started producing them and selling
building licences. Over 500 D9's were
constructed in the 20 years to follow.
The design
progress
The structural
and aerodynamic features of the D9 and
subsequent designs are quite sophisticated,
as shown by the robustness and performance
of the aircraft, and serve to underline Jean
Delemontez's professional abilities.
Then, as now,
the French government, always keen to
encourage local enterprise, showed an
interest in the design and a slightly larger
aircraft, the D11 with two seats, followed.
Joly and Delemontez fomally set up a
company, combining their names. The Jodel
company was born.
The two
seat D11 series was therefore designed
and constructed as a prototype batch for
a French government requirement for an
aero club trainer. The D11 was
succesfull and its variants, principally
the 65 hp D112, the 90 hp D117 produced
by Society Aeronautic Normande (SAN) at
Bernay and the 90 hp D120 from Avions
Wassmer at Issoire, were produced in
large numbers for aeroclubs through the
French government subsidy scheme. I have
also seen versions that were called D119
and 1190.
The first two
seater: The D11 series
The Jodel
company did not really manufacture that many
aircraft itself, their idea being to licence
other firms. Jean Delemontez worked directly
with two organisations in particular to
develop the various Jodel models and series.
With SAN at Bernay he developed the 180 hp
four to five seat D140 Mousquetaire and
later the 100 hp two seat D150 Mascaret. New
samples of the breed are still being
developed, the D18 and D19 being the most
recent models.
From the 1950s
onwards various types, D11, D112, D117 and
so on, were built by various companies.
There was also a large pool of amateur
builders whose examples were generally
powered by 90 hp Continental C90s or 100 hp
O-200s and usually designated D111. Roughly
1500 commercially built aircraft of this
series were produced.
The Robin
connection
Jean
Delemontez's work with Pierre Robin's Centre
Est Aeronautique (CEA), later renamed Avions
Robins, is well known. The CEA Jodel Robin
was based on Jean Delemontez's earlier D10
concept, a four seater whose wing had been
constructed but then shelved when the D11
work became more urgent. Together with
Pierre Robin Jean Delemontez took the Jodel
Robin through the DR100, 200 and nosewheel
DR300/400 series between 1957 and 1972.
The progression
of the DR series was:
-
DR100 - First
produces with 90 hp Continental C90
-
DR105 - As
for the DR 100, but with hydraulic brakes
-
DR1050 - As
for the DR 105, but with 100 hp Rolls
Royce or Continental O-200 engine.
-
DR1051 - As
for the DR 1050, but with 105 hp
Potez 4E20 engine.
Later
versions of the DR 1050 and 1051 had a
revised tailplane design, giving the
model a greater Centre of Gravity range.
These models were designated DR 1050 M
and DR 1051 M and carried the names
Excellence for SAN built models and
Sicile Record for those constructed by
CEA. This name originated from the 1964
Round Sicily Rally, which was won by
Pierre Robin at an average speed of 162
mph (in a 105 hp 4 seater!!)
DR 1051 a member of the DR
100 family
The DR 100
series was succeeded by the Robin DR 200
range of aircraft, being very similar to the
DR 100's. The DR 200 series started with the
DR 220, of which 83 were built in 1967. The
220 was eventually given a 108 hp
Continental O-235 engine, in stead of the
original O-200A, and was then called the DR
221 Dauphine. The Dauphine was later given a
160 hp Lycoming O-320-D2A engine, making it
the DR 250 Capitaine. The DR 250 was the
ultimate taildragger. After some 100 of them
were produced, the DR 250 was later given a
larger fuselage, trigear undercarriage and a
180 hp Lycoming O-360-D2A, making it the DR
253 Regent.
By this time,
the whole range of aircraft had been taken
over by Robin. Meanwhile, Joly and
Delemontez were not sitting idle. Having
built the D9, D10 series (=DR100) and D11
series, it was time to move on. After some
ideas that never materialised, the D140
Mousquetaire was introduced. It was to
become the biggest jodel ever built: a 180
hp tailwheel design with four/five seat
capacity. Early Mousquetaires featured a
rather ugly triangle vertical tailplane,
later ones were fitted with tailplanes like
on the DR 1050 M and DR 200 series.
D140 Mousquetaire, the largest Jodel
production model
The next design
coming from Delemontez' drawing board was
the D150 Mascaret. The Mascaret was intended
to be the successor of the aging D11 series.
It was a two seater, fitted with a modified
DR100 wing and a 100 hp Continental O-200A
engine. The design proved very successful
and quite a few have been built by both
factory and amateur builders.
After the D150,
a D160 prototype was built. It was to become
a six seater fitted with a six cylinder 235
hp Lycoming engine. The interior was fitted
with two sets of individual seats and a rear
bench seat. It had an electrically actuated
canopy, hinged on the port side. It featured
a wing span of 10,86 meters and had a length
of 8,32 meters. A version with retractable
gear and a constant speed prop was
envisioned, but ultimately, the D160 never
saw production.
As far as I
know, the D 17, never saw the light of
day. The D 18 and D 19, however, do
exist. They are small two seater
homebuilts that are usually powered by
converted Volkswagen engines. Plans are
being sold to homebuilders, but they
were never factory produced. Just
recently, the D 20 prototype was
unveiled. It is a trigear scaled down
Robin DR 400 look-alike. SAN plans on
producing it in kit form for amateur
builders.
Homebuilt D18
The original
Avions Jodel company still operates as a
design bureau and licences constructors
(professional and amateur) through the sale
of plans for specific models, D9, D11
series, DR100 series, D140, D150 and more
recent D18 and D19. In addition an
associated company SAB (Society Aeronautique
Bourgoyne) produces parts (fuel tanks,
canopies, undercarriages) for most Jodel
variants.
Modern, tricycle DR
400
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