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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

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