The D 140 Mousquetaire

G-REES D 140 Mousquetaire

In 1956, the Jumbo Jodel was developed by Delemontez and Lucien Querey (founder of SAN) as a touring machine, seating 4 people. It turned out that on shorter flights, there was enough carrying capacity to even seat five adults. When flying with five, things can get a bit intimate in the back though... Aft of the cabin, a huge cargo door hides a very roomy space to stow a lot of camping goods, making this aircraft a very nice go places platform. The D140s have been used as air ambulances and originally the cargo door was meant as an entry point for stretchers carrying injured people.

The D140 has been built in several variants, D140A, B, C, E and R. The A and B model had a very distict vertical tailplane, of rather dubious esthetical quality. Later models received the more pleasing tail layout as on the DR1050M models. The D140 C model is very interesting in this respect, since it had both the modern two piece swept vertical tail and the old style two piece horizontal tail.

Christian Roy's D140 C. Note the new style vertical tail
and the old style two piece horizontal tail.

The R model (shorthand for remorqueur, or glider towing plane) has obviously been built with glider towing in mind. This resulted in a lowered turtledeck, omission of the cargo bay and lengthened glass area.

D140C Mousquetaire in nice weather.

Curious detail of the D140 is that the factory prototype carried the serial number 4. The first three (F-BIZE, f-BIZA AND F-BIZB) had already been sold to the launching customer: le Service de la Formation Aeronautique, a French governmental institution.

D-EEAR, a D140 C from Germany.

Specs for the D140 E

Cockpit of D140 C

Exploded view of the D140 Mousquetaire.
Click on the picture to get a large version.

Avions Mudry purchased the manufacturing rights to the Mousquetaire and continued building them, naming them Abeille (Bee). The D140 R in the top two pictures is one of those Abeilles. The abeille has been built with glider towing in mind. This resulted in a lowered turtledeck, omission of the cargo bay and lengthened glass area.

There had been talk that Avions Mudry is considering putting the D140 back into production. Now that Mudry has been taken over by Robin, who knows? This would make a rather nice addition to the GA world! When asked, a Robin spokesman stated that a modern day Mousquetaire would have to cost over a million French francs though...

And now in the category "don't try this at home folks", the following stunt by two Icelandic D140's. Flying side by side, they come in so low over this river (this is NOT ice!), that their wheels leave a trail on the water.

Don't try this.

Cool as they may be in Iceland, their CAA was not entirely happy with this stunt. According to the experts it's as safe as landing on a runway as long as you keep up the speed. The CAA took the two guys to court and lost the case! These chaps were clever. They contacted NASA and paid for two of their experts to come to Iceland as expert witnesses during the trials. The two pilots were aquitted of the charges for "reckless flying", but were eventually fined about $200 each for low flying!

Thank you Ragnar Ragnarsson for the photo's and the story. Photo's courtesy of photographer Jón Karl Snorrason.

Incidentally, there is an excellent site on the construction of a D140 at www.d140.fr/. This is one of the best sites I have seen on the subject. A must see for any Jodel builder.