Centre Est DR-253 Regent
First flown in 1967, the Centre-Est DR.253 Régent marked a turning point for the young French manufacturer: it was the first of Jean Délémontez and Pierre Robin's wood-and-fabric touring aircraft to trade the earlier tailwheel undercarriage for a nosewheel. That single change set the pattern for every Robin design that followed, leading within a few years to the DR.300 and then the long-lived DR.400 family, whose forward-sliding canopy and tricycle gear are still a familiar sight at French flying clubs. The Régent itself kept the family's cranked Jodel wing and four-seat cabin, pairing its new undercarriage with an already well-proven airframe rather than a wholesale redesign.
Did you know?
The first Robin design with nosewheel gear, the Regent set the tricycle pattern its DR.300 and DR.400 successors kept.
Specifications
| Length | 6.9 m (23 ft) |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 8.7 m (29 ft) |
| Height | 1.8 m (6 ft) |
| Persons on board | 4 |
| Service ceiling | 17,000 ft (5,182 m) |
| Optimum ceiling | 13,000 ft (3,962 m) |
| Rate of climb | 1,300 ft/min (6.6 m/s) |
| Take-off distance | 610 m (2,001 ft) |
| Fuel capacity | 80 l |
| Units built | 100 |
Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.
In CatchFlights
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