The D150 Mascaret

G-BACL D150 Mascaret

The D150 Mascaret was intended to be the successor of the D11 series. The two seater design, which was created by Delemontez for the S.A.N. factories in Normandie, leaned heavily on the DR1050. The wing was narrowed a little and the fuselage was shortened. A new tailplane construction with a two piece vertical and one piece horizontal tailplane was used. This tail was later adopted by the DR1050 series and in still in use today on the brand new Robin DR500.

The aircraft was given a single large fuel tank behind the seats, carrying 110 liters of fuel. Furthermore, two tanks of 40 liters each were housed in the inboard wing leading edge, giving a total of 190 liters of fuel, good for a staggering 10 hour endurance. The tank behind the panel that is installed in the DR1050 did not reappear in the D150, resulting in much more space behind the panel, which has always been a problem in the DR1050.

The new tailplane configuration, and in particular the one piece all moving horizontal tail, is so much more powerful than the original narrower two piece version that the CG envelope has been opened quite a bit farther. This is also why Delemontez could get away with just the fuel tank under the bench seat, and without the tank behind the panel to balance it. All the models following the D150 (the DR200 series and so on) have this larger rear tank and no panel tank. Presumably, Delemontez and Robin did not feel like retrofitting this feature in the DR1050 when they gave it its new tail.

Interesting note is that the D150 prototype (F-BJST) was originally fitted with the new two piece vertical tail, but still had the old style two piece horizontal. The subsequent production aircraft all had the new tail configuration, which was later also retrofitted to the prototype.

The same story goes for the wheel pants. The prototype was fitted with the rather blunt wheelpants of the DR1050 Ambassadeur, whereas production models received the sleeker Sicile pants.

Exploded view of the D150. This is the Australian version, nicknamed Sky Prince.
Click on the picture to get a large version.

The D150 design proved successfull, even though only 61 of the breed were produced at S.A.N. in Bernay. The fact that more than 61 are flying today can be explained by its popularity among homebuilders. S.A.B. is still selling plans and even kits for homebuilding.

Monsieur Delemontez himself used a D150 for personal transportation. Of all the models, he said, this was his favourite. It is often considered the Rolls Royce among Jodels. Rolls Royce as it may be though, S.A.N. decided to market it at a lower price than the 3/4 seater DR1050. This despite the fact that it didn't cost less to build. In fact, S.A.N. lost money on every D150 that was produced. Among other things, this was what in the end lead them into bankrupcy.

Like the DR1050 / 1051, the Mascaret is also fitted with either a Continental O-200 or a Potez 4E20 engine. The latter model being desgnated D150 A. A 135 hp Franklin engine has been tried, and a few of these have actually been built. Homebuilt D150's usually mount O-200's, even though an O-320 fitted "Super Mascaret" is flying in the UK.

The Mascaret has very pleasant flight characteristics, and is reported to be very stable in flight. Presumably this is because the wings have been shortened at the inner (horizontal) panels. This way, the stabilizing outer panels are proportinally larger than on the DR1050. This is a wild guess of mine, but the fact remains that the D150 is quite stable. Performance with the O-200 is slightly better than that of the DR1050. The Mascaret is cleared for mild aerobatics.

Specifications with 100hp O-200 engine

Photos of G-BHEZ, taken at the Cranfield FPA Rally 1997

Adrian Mc Shane has written an excellent piece on the D150, which I have reproduced here with his permission: The Jodel D150