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The first part of this account tried to make some sense of my decision to break my perfectly good little Robin DR400-120 for parts. The objective was to reuse as much as possible and permissible in a project intended to take advantage of the cost savings which should be available by operating under the CNRA (French homebuilders) rules.
‘Les Voisins’ must have thought ‘Les Anglais’ were plotting the next revolution. Why else would they erect a giant guillotine in the back garden? In fact the 5-meter tall lifting frame was intended to deliver up the airframe components of the Jodel into the upper floor of our conveniently large but draughty barn rather than beheading Sarco, tempting as that prospect might be.
The trip to Nantes had been a success. The Jodel airframe I had found advertised on the RSA site turned out to be very close to what I needed: a bare airframe without an engine or instruments but otherwise nearly complete.
As always, a few things were not as I would have preferred. The fuselage was set up for the French Potez motor rather than the 0235 Lycoming from my Robin and the airframe was configured as a tricycle whereas I would have liked to stick to the original tailwheel design. The empennage had the all-moving rudder/fin but elevators rather than the all-moving horizontal surface. This is the converse of the more widely favoured set-up found in later models. Even so, I decided this was as near as I was likely to find.
The vendor, Joel, seemed like a genuine guy. An engineer through and through, he had spent the best part of a lifetime servicing the RR gas turbines fitted to some French warships. He had been working on the Jodel project for years, on and off, collecting bits here and there while constructing the basic airframe in his workshop on the far side of Nantes airfield.
Eventually the powers that be decreed that a new security fence was necessary for his side of the airfield in this terrorism-dominated climate. The route chosen would cut off his little workshop from the runway. The historic aircraft group who tend an eclectic collection of mainly static exhibits clustered around the crumbling Art Deco ‘English side’ tower were also affected although they may well have other facilities.
The historic groups collection on this remote part of the airfield included an ex-Air France Constellation, her stately elegance still intact, various Migs and Mirages whose days of thunder were now just a muted memory, and the remains of the ‘Utterly Butterly’ AN2, no longer in a condition to play host to the aerobatic teams’ corporate sponsors and their cosseted guests. In truth only the spirits of this incongruous little group now had aneed to access the runway. Any barrier would not trouble them.
In the end Joel had to give up the unequal struggle and in consequence he put his long-standing project up for sale.
I gave him a small deposit then and there. Transport is always a tricky proposition mainly because of the 8.72 metre one-piece Jodel wing. This may be good from the strength and lightness points of view but a real pain when it comes to moving it around. A glider trailer can sometimes be used but the French have driving restrictions once trailers are over a certain length so Joel kindly made arrangements with a local haulier and agreed to do the transit packing himself plus supervise the loading.
The lorry arrived over an hour early on the due day, something of a rarity in France. The few Brits who live in this neck of the woods had all promised to help, but were naturally still in bed. Several local worthies pitched in to help along with Joel who had made the trip in his little camper just to see his baby safely to its adopted home.
The transit packing had been predictably well done with the long wing sitting chord-vertical on its custom-made trellis in the approved fashion. Very quickly, all the various components were safely manhandled from the lorry to the ground floor of the barn so we did the French thing and adjourned for a long lunch leaving the ascent to the upper floor for another day.
As if by magic, the missing Brits turned up just in time for lunch. Needless to say a good time was had by all. I was pleased to be able to offer Joel a little hospitality in what must have been a day of mixed emotions for him.
Although I was itching to start work on the assembly I knew it was essential to make an early start on the formalities just to get going on the long paper trail that would hopefully lead, in the fullness of time, to the grant of the CNRA. Joel had given me a detailed briefing.
The first thing required is the letter of ‘demande’ to GSAC in Paris. This is just a request for the necessary forms. To my surprise these arrived very promptly even though it was August and I had fully expected a material delay. It just goes to show that any assumption you make about how things work in France will probably turn out to be wrong!
The most serious part of the forms to be completed in triplicate was the technical dossier. I turned to the plans I had purchased from Avions Jodel for the answers. Some hope! You might naively expect fundamental parameters like the angle of incidence to be expressly addressed, but no. The faded photocopy plans were far from clear and might just as well have been the lost portion of the Dead Sea scrolls.
Fortunately I was not faced with the daunting prospect of decoding the hieroglyphics sufficiently to build the thing from scratch, just enough to fill in the dossier. The angle was determined by measurement at 4 degrees and Joel confirmed this was correct. In fact I sent all my draft answers off to Joel to check before I plucked up courage to send off the completed forms to Paris.
Now I might have some time to get on with the assembly while the technocrats in Paris pored over my pathetic attempt. Wrong again. The very next day after sending off the forms I answered my phone to find the head honcho from GSAC well and truly on my case and on the warpath.
At the best of times my understanding of French on the telephone is pathetic and I was certainly not up to answering the third degree. Understanding about one word in ten I had the distinctly uncomfortable impression I was under dire suspicion of fraudulently passing off an aircraft of ‘industrial fabrication’ as a homebuilt in order to obtain a CNRA. I decided the take the Fifth Amendment and quickly passed him over to my long-suffering wife in an attempt to pacify him. He was clearly not going to fall for such an obvious ruse. The best we could do was to offer to get Joel to explain the history and the call ended as frostily as it had started.
Joel duly held a lengthy conversation with the irate fonctionnaire and then submitted a formal statement confirming that he had indeed been the constructor. This did the trick and the dogs were called off.
As a last swipe GSAC decided that I could not be classed as the main constructor as I had not done any of the woodwork even though I would be doing everything else. I would not be entitled to the 3-year inspection period conceded to an owner/constructor but would be in the same position as a purchaser.
Given the ferocity of the spate I decided not to question this decision as I could live with yearly inspections and would actually welcome another set of eyes over the plane on a yearly basis. The letter granting the project number and passing me on to our local GSAC at La Rochelle arrived not long afterwards and came as some relief. I did not feel particularly fairly treated or that the decision was equitable but that’s life. Just get on with it.
In the meantime and more happily ‘Madame Guillotine’ and the press-ganged local Brits had done their stuff and all the bits had been lifted to the upper barn. The only casualty was our lime tree that had to be severely pruned to allow that long wing to be lifted sufficiently before being trundled forward into the loft whilst dangling from the wheeled lifting frame hoist.
It was a nice surprise to find that mating the fuselage to the wing, the first major operation, was not as tricky as I had feared. The bare fuselage is quite light and was lifted into position over the wing with the aid of the multi-purpose wife and a pallet fitted with castors (both are invaluable devices but the pallet is not able to cook).
To counterbalance the success of that first operation some of the ‘little jobs’ proved to be anything but. Altering the seat belt mountings for example proved more difficult. Even now some French pilots seem to regard seatbelts as a bit sissy and are content to bolt the end to any old bit of spruce.
Our club Regent still does not have shoulder straps even in the front. The smaller Robin does but the shoulder strap sweeps down between the unfortunate rear passengers’ legs to be bolted to the front of the rear bench seat support. The angle at which it does so would almost certainly reduce your stature considerably in the event of a sharp stop. CNRA at least gives you the freedom to update the safety of what, after all, is a 1950’s origin design.
For anyone contemplating a project like this that should, in theory, be relatively straightforward (at least compared to a scratch build) it is vital to be prepared for difficulties round every corner. For instance, although the 0235 Lycoming is a recognised option by Avions Jodel they do not offer a suitable motor mount or any suggestions as to how to source this vital component.
After going down a blind alley trying to modify another mount, I decided to use the original DR400 mount as at least the motor end was correct even though the bulkhead spacing is much wider on the DR400, which does not have the tapered fuselage sides of the 1050. In sourcing the Chrome Moly steel for the motor mount mods I found it much easier and cheaper to deal with the USA where the service ethic is alive and well along with its friend, healthy competition. Even with transport costs, the cost saving was dramatic particularly as small personal packages may not attract the attention of Mr 20%, the French taxman. While I love France and most aspects of French life, failings in customer service and lack of competition are noteworthy exceptions.
To date progress has been slower than I had hoped and my February waypoint for first inspection is now impossible. My motor mount, which I took to the TIG welder way before Christmas, has still to materialise. It is not possible to glue anything on the airframe as it is quite impossible to get enough heat into my barn given the current arctic conditions so, for the moment at least, I am literally unstuck.
I have to share some of the blame for the delay myself. I was extremely reluctant to start taking apart my Robin and this undoubtedly slowed down progress. However hard I tried to see things in a positive light it is difficult to lie convincingly to your heart.
The Jodel is still a wooden wonder in my mind but it is also a ragtag collection of bits, pieces and sizes from most of the aviation world with plenty of ancient, unobtainable French car parts in the magic mix. A challenge is all very well but what I need is a flyable aeroplane within a sensible timescale. Quite a few more obstacles need to be cleared before the end is anywhere near in sight so I will just have to be patient.
‘Bon Courage’ as our hosts are inclined to say!
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