Pierre Robin (14 August 1927 – 5 August 2020) was a French
aeroplane
An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...
designer. He was best known for founding the aircraft company
Avions Robin
Robin Aircraft is a French manufacturer of light aircraft. It succeeds to ''Centre-Est Aéronautique'', ''Avions Pierre Robin'' and Apex Aircraft (''Avions Robin'' and ''Robin Aviation'').
History
Centre-Est Aéronautique was formed by Pierre ...
with designer
Jean Délémontez.
Avions Pierre Robin
Avions Pierre Robin was founded in 1957 as Centre Est Aéronautique at
Dijon
Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...
. In 1969 the company name was changed to Avions Pierre Robin. The company manufactured a series of light airplanes, based on the designs created by
Délémontez, of Jodel renown (Société Avions Jodel). The first airplane completed by Avions Pierre Robin was flown in 1967, designated
DR.253 Regent.
In October 2004
Alpha Aviation Ltd (Hamilton New Zealand) purchased the jigs, tooling and intellectual rights to the
Robin R2000 series. These two-place all-metal training aircraft were produced from 2005 until January 2008, when the parent company of Alpha liquidated the company assets.
Avions Pierre Robin became known as Apex after the R2000 sale. It continued to produce all its other types consisting primarily of the DR400 series.
Pilot Friend (website), ''Pierre Robin Aircraft'' accessed 25 February 2013
References
French businesspeople
French aerospace engineers
1927 births
2020 deaths
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