AEROPLANE TO AEROPLANO

Savoia Marchetti S.63        The Savoia Marchetti S.63 was an attempt to reduce the catamaran-configured S.55 to a central monohull seaplane, because the h igh command of the Italian Regia Aeronautica, initially, did not like the twin hull arrangement proposed by SIAI.    S.55 (for comparison)           The new seaplane maintained the engines and the wing of its twin hull predecessor , minus the central section and the twin boom tail arrangement.         The mono-hull prototype of the S.63, that was designed for a military purpose, featured a gunner-observer bow hatch with a machine gun. The pilots sat side by side just forward of the leading edge, where the fuselage presented a marked step down, that is visible in the top photograph.         In view of the success that the S.55 was beginning to enjoy, after the military evaluatio...

  Furio Lauri’s meteors by Giuseppe Blini            The name of Furio Lauri is undoubtedly associated to the rebirth of Italian aviation after WWII and to the Meteor company.         Differently from other Italians who, in the same period, distinguish themselves as aircraft designers, Lauri was rather a multifaceted and far-sighted aviation entrepreneur always animated by a great passion.         Furio Lauri was born in 1918 in Zara (now Zadar, Croatia) and grew up in Trieste. He achieved his civilian pilot license, and in 1939 joined the Regia Aeronautica, which he left in 1947 with the rank of major.         His military activity is outside the scope of this article, but it would suffice to say that he was awarded a gold medal and two silver medals for military valor. The gold medal was awarded to him for a series of da...