Gone West: Stelio Frati | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-12.02.24

Airborne-NextGen-12.03.24

Airborne-Unlimited-12.04.24

Airborne Flt Training-12.05.24

Airborne-Unlimited-12.06.24

Mon, May 17, 2010

Gone West: Stelio Frati

Designer Of The F.8 Falco And Other Aircraft

ANN has learned that Stelio Frati, the Italian designer best known for the F.8 Falco but with many other airplanes credited to his drawing board (no CAD for him), passed away last Friday in Italy at the age of 91.

Born in 1939, he graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Milano, Italy, and immediately started his career as a freelance designer. His first successful design was the F.4 Rondone, a 65 to 90 HP two seater which held for a while the world speed record for his category at 169 mph in 1950. But his worldwide success was due to the F.8 Falco, a real thoroughbred which, on 135 HP, could exceed 200 mph. Later versions had a 150 HP Lycoming and were capable of 210 mph. The Falco set a new standard for performance and flying qualities, together with a very appealing look, which made it a real winner. Built in wood, its structure required an expert craftmanship that made it a Stradivarius-like prize item, only 110 being built, of which at least 40 survive to this day. The design has been adopted by the Sequoia Aircraft Company, located in Richmond, Virginia, which markets to this day a semi-finished kit with great success.


F.8 Falco

Frati  followed the Falco with many other designs, most of which were also built in small series, and all conforming to his ideal of excellent performance, flying qualities and good looks. In due course he converted to metal structures, and his first metal design was the SF.250, a bigger and more powerful Falco, which in its derivative form was built in series by SIAI Marchetti as the SF.260, and enjoyed an exceptional worldwide success, mostly as a military pilot trainer. More than 900 SF.260s were built, and the type is still being produced by the Italian firm Aermacchi, which incorporated SIAI Marchetti.


SF.260

Among the lesser known Frati designs, three light jet-powered two-seaters (the F.5 of 1950, the Cobra of 1960 and the Jet Squalus of 1980) were built and flown, but never reached series production.

FMI: www.seqair.com/Frati/Designs/F8Falco/F8.2.html

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Final Report: Michael G Darby DARD 1

After Landing He Realized He Had Misidentified The Runway And Landed In Softer Snow Analysis: The pilot reported that during approach to the snow-covered runway in flat light condi>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (12.04.24): Arresting System

Arresting System A safety device consisting of two major components, namely, engaging or catching devices and energy absorption devices for the purpose of arresting both tailhook a>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (12.04.24)

“We learned a great deal in the process, such as greater coding skills, soldering techniques, and video editing skills...” Source: Cuyahoga County Team Captain John Ana>[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 11.26.24: BushCat's Back!, LODA Update, DRL Miami

Also: Van Celebrates 85th, Trio Pro Pilot Autopilot, Joby on MSFS24, Sonex Transition The BushCat was manufactured in South Africa by SkyReach beginning in 2014, selling its first >[...]

Airborne 12.02.24: Electra FG EIS, Prez Osprey Problems, Starship Wants 25

Also: EAA Ray Foundation, MagniX Records, Ruko U11MINI Drone, RCAF PC-21s Elektra Solar recently put the first aircraft from its Elektra Trainer Fixed-Gear (FG) family into service>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC