Alfa Romeo Avio

Alfa Romeo Avio
Industry Aeronautics
Fate Acquired by Fiat Avio
Founded 1941 (1941)
Headquarters Pomigliano d'Arco[1], Italy
Products Aircraft engines
Revenue 300 billion £ (1996)[2]
£ 30 billion[2]
Number of employees
 1 500 (1996)[2]

The Alfa Romeo Avio was an Italian aviation company producing aircraft engines active since 1941.[2][3] It was founded as a division of Alfa Romeo and owned for 10 years by Aeritalia; since 1996 it has been part of the Fiat group and was merged with Fiat Avio in 2003 as Avio S.p.A..[2]

History

The premises

Alfa Romeo D2 aircraft engine

The first Alfa Romeo engine used on an airplane was installed in 1910 on a Santoni-Franchini biplane.[4][5] This aircraft, which was designed and created by designer Antonio Santoni and the mechanic Nino Franchini, was equipped with an ALFA 24 HP car engine.[6][7]

This engine was designed by Giuseppe Merosi and had maximum power of 36 horsepower (27 kW).[7] The airplane made its first flight on 1 November 1910 in Milan, the Santoni-Franchini biplane took off from Baggio and landed to San Siro.[6][7] The Alfa Romeo aviation life continued after the takeover by Nicola Romeo. During the Nicola Romeo ownership company received orders from the Italian war ministry to build 300 license Isotta-Fraschini V6 engines for bombers used in the First World War.[6][7] After the war ended, and after having made a prototype of a 600 horsepower (450 kW) V12 engine, the Alfa Romeo aviation business was temporarily suspended.[7]

The activities of Alfa Romeo aviation resumed in 1924 with the construction of licensed Bristol Jupiter engines.[7] Nicola Romeo got a permission to build an Alfa Romeo version of the Bristol Jupiter IV.[7] This radial engine was aircooled with nine cylinders.[7] These engines were then used on reconnaissance and observation aircraft like: IMAM Ro.1, Meridionali Ro.1, Caproni Ca.97 and, experimentally, even bombers Caproni Ca.102, Ca.102quater and Ansaldo AC.3.[7] In 1928, Pasquale Gallo, who replaced Nicola Romeo for Alfa Romeo, managed to win a contract to produce under license Lynx 7 and 9 cylinder air-cooled engines.[6][8][7]

At the end of the twenties, the director of the Alfa Romeo Prospero Gianferrari decided to diversify the company's business by focusing on other products: in addition to the construction of trucks and buses, it was decided to invest important resources for the design and construction of aircraft engines.[9] The result of this change in strategy was the production, in 1932, the first aircraft engine completely designed, developed and built by the Alfa, the D2, which was then mounted - in various versions - on Caproni Ca.101.[6][10] In this decade Alfa Romeo aircraft engines following the D2 were used on a large scale.

SM.79 "Sparviero" used Alfa Romeo 128-RC18 radial engines

For example, the 126 RC.34 was installed on five different planes: Savoia-Marchetti S.74, 75, 79, 81 and Cant Z.506.[11] Other aircraft engines worth mentioning that were designed, developed and produced by the Alfa Romeo in this decade under the supervision of the new director of the company Ugo Gobbato were the Alfa Romeo 125, 125 RC.35, RC.10 126, 126 RC.34, 128 RC.18, 128 RC.21, RC.32 129 and 135.[6] In the thirties, the Alfa Romeo engines for the aviation industry became famous for their successful participation in the various attempts to break world records in aviation and for their sporting triumphs, which showed a certain supremacy technique.[7] The Alfa Romeo aircraft engines of this period, used largely on the aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica, helped to write important pages in the history of Italian aviation.[12][13]

In the thirties Alfa Romeo had its own line of development and production of propellers, both a fixed pitch and variable pitch, which were made from duralumin.[12][13] Material-wise Alfa Romeo patented different metal alloys that were later used in cars.[14] One of the most famous metal alloys designed and developed by Alfa Romeo was the "Duralfa" .[14]

In 1931 was organized a demonstration event to show Alfa Romeo technology used in airplanes, a race between Alfa Romeo 8C 3000 Monza driven by Tazio Nuvolari and a Caproni Ca.100. Tazio Nuvolari won the airplane with a small margin.[15]

The birth of the Alfa Romeo Avio

Macchi C.202 "Folgore"

In the late thirties the political situation in Europe was changing, however. The winds of war brought the various nations, including Italy, to the arms race.[16] Industrial production of the Alfa Romeo was then directed towards the assembly of aircraft engines and trucks, that would be most helpful to Italy in case of armed conflict.[17] The assembly of civilian cars was reduced so drastically in favor mainly of aircraft production, which in the years before World War II was generating almost 80% of sales of Alfa Romeo.[17] In this context, in 1938, it was decided to build a production plant in Pomigliano d'Arco, near Naples, that he should occupy only the design and assembly of aircraft engines.[18] This industrial site was the ancestor of the modern production plant of the Fiat group.[19] In the following years the plant in Pomigliano d'Arco reached a level of quality and a level of technological advancement such as to count the production site of the best factories of the period.[20] After the outbreak of World War II, Ugo Gobbato decided to establish separate division to aircraft products. Thus in 1941 the Alfa Romeo Avio was born.[2]

The military engines produced by the Alfa Romeo in this period were almost all air-cooled radial engines; exception was the RA 1000 RC.41 which was a licensed product of the famous Daimler-Benz DB 601. This engine was used fighter planes like Reggiane Re.2001 and Macchi M.C.202, which was the best fighter used by the Italian Air Force during World War II.[21][22]

The Second World War also left many signs in the Portello plant and the production site of Pomigliano d'Arco, which was considered very important war supplier.[23] Because of its strategic importance, 14 February and 13 August 1943 the plant in Milan suffered two heavy bombardment.[23] The final bombing came on October 20, 1944, it was the heaviest bombardment that Milan had suffered until then, it destroyed more than 60% of the factory and caused production site closing.[24] The plant in Pomigliano d'Arco suffered the same fate 30 May 1943, with the destruction of 70% of the factory.[23]

The following decades

Alfa Romeo Jupiter
Alfa Romeo 135

After the war there were no military orders, and the factory in Pomigliano d'Arco was reactivated and temporarily converted to the production of cars and trucks, as well as testing of engines and chassis for cars and the production of trolley buses, diesel engines, generators and marine engines.[2] Shortly after, the production site in Naples returned to maintain of aircraft engines.[2] This activity was however not comparable to that pre-war, since the operations were initially only repair of Bristol engines and production of replacement parts.[25]

In 1947 the management of the plant in Pomigliano d'Arco passed by Alfa Romeo to Metalmeccanica Meridionale.[25] The latter, moreover, was given most of the production of engines, so that was no longer the prerogative of the full workforce in Pomigliano d'Arco. In 1948 Alfa Romeo came back to aircraft engine production, with the 131 and the new engines 110 and 115.[25] The latter two were reserved for small private transport planes.[6] In 1949 Alfa Romeo made an alliance with Fiat, SAI Ambrosini and Aermacchi for the licensed production of the de Havilland aircraft.[25] Specifically, the engine was made by Fiat and Alfa Romeo, while the rest of the aircraft was produced the two other aircraft companies mentioned.[25] In 1949 company had also great effect on the media: Ambrosini S.1001 "Grifo" powered by an Alfa Romeo 110 he made the trip Milan to Buenos Aires in 19 hours without the help of the radio.[6][25] In 1953 the same plane made a crossing of Arctic.[6][25]

In the fifties Alfa Romeo continued collaboration with Fiat, producing jet engines.[25] In this decade the aviation activities of the Alfa, however, were still below pre-war standards. In fact, in 1952, in Pomigliano d'Arco worked 500 workers and 160 employees who were primarily of activities complementary to the production real aviation. In the example shown, the management of the establishment, however, returned to the Alfa Romeo. In this period, the activities of the production site of Pomigliano d'Arco were indeed still limited, as were reduced to repairs and the construction of combustion engines.

In 1962 it was decided to reorganize the plant. Alongside "Vehicles" and "Diesel" sections, was in fact restored also the "Avio" division. In this time, the revived Alfa Romeo Avio began to deal with repairing Curtiss-Wright R-1820 and R-3350 piston engines and J65 turbojet engines, Rolls-Royce Dart, Conway and Avon engines that were mounted on Italian and Norwegian airplanes.[2] Alfa Romeo was also involved (with FIAT, FN of Belgium and BMW), in the European production programme, in the production of a FIAT (General Electric) J79-GE-11A turbojet to power the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter that were being built in Europe. It was also the European distributor of the General Electric J85 and CJ610 turbojets. Alfa was also involved to the Fiat G.91 programme, as this was powered by the Bristol Orpheus 803 engine. Given that the activities at the plant were in constant growth, the direction of the Alfa Romeo decided to invest resources on the training of workers and technicians. As confirmation of this progress, the turnover of the Alfa Romeo Avio, from 1968 to 1969, increased by 34%, and in the second half of the sixties Alfa exhibited successfully its aircraft engines in various international air exhibitions.[6] Also in this decade, Alfa continued aviation cooperation with Fiat.

In the seventies, in the civil field, Alfa Romeo repaired all types of turbine engines used by the Italian airlines including Alitalia. For military engines Alfa Romeo concetrated mainly to piston engines of Italian Army. In 1974, Alfa Romeo began a collaboration with Rolls-Royce to design, develop and assemble gas turbines. In 1975 the workforce employed by Alfa Romeo Avio was 2,000 workers and this steady growth led this company to charge, in 1980, 41 billion lire compared, however, a decline in employment that adjusted themselves, in the same year, to 1,300 units. The company focused to work on Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce and General Electric engines. In this context, in 1979, the Alfa Romeo set a record: it was the first Italian company to design, develop and build an turboprop aircraft engine (the ' AR318 ), which was installed on a Beechcraft King Air. In 1981, Alfa Romeo Avio took part, along with Oto Melara and Fiat Avio to the development of supersonic missile Otomach 2.[6]

NH-90 TTH of Bundeswehr demonstrated at ILA 2006.

In 1982 10% of shares of Alfa Romeo Avio still owned by Alfa Romeo were transferred to Aeritalia, that share grew to 60% in 1984. In 1986, on the sale of the Alfa Romeo to Fiat, the remaining shares still owned the by Alfa Romeo was bought by Aeritalia. As a result, privatization of state-owned companies, prepared by Finmeccanica, in 1996 the ownership of Alfa Romeo Avio was passed to Fiat Avio, bringing with a turnover of 300 billion lire and 1,500 workers.[2][26] Since 2003 the Alfa Romeo Avio has been part of the Avio group.[27] The combined company with Alfa Romeo Avio as part of it, was involved in 2005 in the development of T700-T6E1 engine for the NH90 NHI helicopter.

References

  1. ↑ Business Information Agency (ed.). ITALY Major Manufacturers Directory. ISBN 9781418775377. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 alfasport.net (ed.). "Alfa Romeo Aviazione".
  3. ↑ janes.com (ed.). "Alfa Romeo Avio (Italy), Buyer's guide engine manufacturers". Archived from the original on 2011-08-15. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  4. ↑ Tabucchi 2010, p. 19.
  5. ↑ Borgeson, Griffith. The Alfa Romeo Tradition. ISBN 0-85429-875-4.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 enciclopediadellautomobile.com (ed.). "Alfa Romeo". Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 alfasport.net (ed.). "Storia dell'attività motoristica aeronautica dell'Alfa Romeo – Capitolo I". Retrieved 2014-03-31.
  8. ↑ Sannia 2010, p. 30.
  9. ↑ Sannia 2010, p. 35.
  10. ↑ alfaromeopress.com (ed.). "Alfa Romeo compie 90 anni - Non solo auto". Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  11. ↑ aerei-italiani.net (ed.). "Alfa Romeo AEREI Collezione Modelli di Marco Rigoni" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  12. 1 2 alfasport.net (ed.). "Storia dell'attività motoristica aeronautica dell'Alfa Romeo – Capitolo II". Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  13. 1 2 alfasport.net (ed.). "Storia dell'attività motoristica aeronautica dell'Alfa Romeo – Capitolo III". Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  14. 1 2 Tabucchi 2010, p. 152.
  15. ↑ digilander.libero.it (ed.). "La storia di due "duelli" inconsueti avvenuti a 50 anni di distanza l'uno dall'altro". Retrieved 2013-10-07.
  16. ↑ Candeloro, Giorgio (2002). Feltrinelli, ed. Storia dell'Italia moderna vol. 10 - La seconda guerra mondiale. Il crollo del fascismo. La Resistenza.
  17. 1 2 Pellegrini 2010, p. 38.
  18. ↑ Sannia 2010, p. 38.
  19. ↑ Sannia 2010, p. 107.
  20. ↑ Tabucchi 2010, p. 110.
  21. ↑ Angelucci, Enzo (1978). Sampson Low, ed. World Aircraft: World War II, Volume I. ISBN 978-0-528-88170-1.
  22. ↑ museoscienza.org (ed.). "Motore aeronautico - Alfa Romeo RA 1000 RC.41-I Monsone". Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  23. 1 2 3 Tabucchi 2010, p. 114.
  24. ↑ Tabucchi 2010, p. 116.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 alfasport.net (ed.). "Storia dell'attività motoristica aeronautica dell'Alfa Romeo – Capitolo IV". Retrieved 2014-05-02.
  26. ↑ repubblica.it (ed.). "Alfa Avio passa alla Fiat". Retrieved 2013-10-25.
  27. ↑ aeromedia.it (ed.). "Fiat Avio diventa Avio". Retrieved 2013-10-25.

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 22, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.