Musca

 

        Franco Muscariello, who put the wings on Viberti.

by Giuseppe Blini (translated by L. Pavese)

The years that immediately followed the end of WWII in Italy saw a resurgence of light aeronautical activity and sport aviation in general.

Although subject to the limited economic means of the time, there were in Italy several initiatives to fill the void created by the vicissitudes of the war. One of these endeavors, today almost forgotten, was spearheaded by Franco Muscariello and the Ali Viberti Company.

Franco Muscariello was born in 1919 in Verona, where his Neapolitan father Vincenzo, a retired military engineer, worked for the Adige auto-body shops. When the Adige business was bought out by the Viberti company, Vincenzo Muscariello was appointed technical director, and the family moved to Turin.

Viberti was a large Turin company, founded in 1922, that specialized in building trailers, road semi-trailers, tanker-trucks, buses and electric wire-buses.

At the age of twenty, Franco Muscariello joined the Bersaglieri and was shipped to Greece with the rank of lieutenant. He obtained a transfer to the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) and was assigned to a reconnaissance squadron as an observer. 

After the war, he obtained a business degree in Turin with a thesis on air transport.

Following a lifelong passion for all things aviation, he joined the AGO (Aeromodellisti Gruppo Ognisport), an association of airplane model builders and people passionate about flying in general.

Franco Muscariello

After a member of AGO built an airplane model with a ten-foot wingspan, there arose in the group the idea of building a true airplane. The president of the group liked the idea and made ₤ 60000 (Italian Lira) available — an amount of money that, although respectable turned out not to be sufficient. The coordination of the project was entrusted to Franco Muscariello.

The intention was to realize a very simple two-seat airplane, easy to build and to fly, which would be suitable to train the would-be pilots members of AGO and keep the already licensed ones proficient. It should have had a low stall airspeed but a good cruise speed. A wooden airframe was considered mandatory.

The undercapitalized endeavor began, even though the group did not have the space required to build the airplane. An associate of the group, Aldo Conti, the son of a furniture maker, took charge of the construction which initially started in the basement of the furniture shop, not to take too much space.

After some of the smaller components were built, the understanding father of Aldo Conti made more room available to build the bigger parts. The building of the metal components was entrusted to Lorenzo Vallivero, another member of the AGO group who was an expert metal fabricator. All the work was fueled by the enthusiasm of the very enterprising Franco Muscariello, who did not hesitate to enlist the help of anybody that could be useful to the effort.

After the airframe was completed, there remained the problem of finding an engine. Using all his connections, Muscariello managed to get a cv 60, CNA D-4 engine on loan from the Italian Air Force. The instruments were procured thanks to the money from a group of AGO members who imposed some extra fees on themselves.

Finally, thanks to the intervention of Muscariello’s father, the building of the airplane was completed in a room of the Viberti company. The aircraft was named Musca I, and the final assembly took place in the summer of 1947, in a FIAT’s hangar of Corso Francia, in Turin.

The Musca prototype built by AGO at Viberti's. It is not known if it was ever registered. 

Captain Agostino Serafini, FIAT test pilot, oversaw the flight tests and made the first flights with the Musca in September of 1947.

An industrial dream

After the successful flight tests, Signor Angelo Elisio Viberti, the son of the founder of the Viberti company, saw a chance to diversify the activities of his company. The Ali Viberti SpA company was created, and the launch of a series of aircraft was decided. Franco Muscariello became the technical director of the new company. Aldo Conti ran the workshop.

The work started in the newly created Viberti aviation shop with seven workers, that later became twenty-two. The technical department, under the supervision of Franco Muscariello, was integrated with the acquisition of an expert draftsman, Francesco Battù from Aeropiccola, the historic Turin based aircraft model making company, who realized the industrial construction drawings of the airplane.

The original design was revised, and a complete structural analysis was carried out by a specialist from FIAT Aviazione.

The initial plan foresaw a series of ten airplanes, plus an airframe dedicated to the static tests. A diversified engine range was also planned, which included the cv 65 Walter Mikron and cv 85 and cv 95 Continental power units.

The advertised selling price was very competitive: M₤ 1.55 (1.55 million Italian Lire) for a Musca I with a CNA D4 engine, and M₤ 1.65 for one with a Continental engine. These prices are almost unbelievable, considering the cost of the material, the engines, the instruments, the need to amortize the initial investments and the cost of the homologation. That could explain the subsequent financial difficulties of the company.

The construction started in the winter of 1947 and the first aircraft of the first series flew on August 20, 1948, with Captain Agostino Serafini at the controls. The publications of the time disagree with the later ones on the registration of the first airplane: it was either I-VIBE or I-QUAR. The second one is more likely, at least from what one can discern from the data of the Italian Aeronautical Registry.

Franco Muscariello is climbing on the wing of the first series-built Musca I

After passing the flight test, the first prototype built by the AGO group made way for the aircraft built by Ali Viberti and was demolished. However, the ten aircraft of the first series, all sold to private individuals and clubs, had to be recalled due to an aileron flutter problem that required a modification.

Two Muscas of the First Series in formation flight over Piedmont, Italy

Second series and shut-down

The aircraft of the second production lot were designated Musca I/2S, and they were updated and improved. The most evident modification was the different canopy with an enlarged transparent surface, and side detachable doors.

To eliminate the dangerous flutter, the ailerons were moved towards the wing root and statically counterbalanced.

Other improvements and simplifications of the construction, such as the wingtips, the tips of the empennage and the frame of the canopy in light metal alloy markedly reduced the empty weight of the aircraft.

The prototype of the Second Series, with the enlarged canopy

Another view of I-RAIA. Note the absence of flaps

Only four examples of the second series were built. They were numbered from N.C. 2-11 to N.C. 2-14 (the last serial is not clearly determined, because the aircraft was also the prototype of the third series). Also, N.C. 13 was never readied for the first flight. 

After that, production stopped for financial problems, and Ali Viberti ceased all activities on December 31, 1949.

The prototype of the second series, N.C. 2-11, temporarily received the registration I-RAIA, but later got the permanent markings I-CAIA. The homologations trials with Italian Aeronautical Registry were carried out in Milan with the help of the Piero Magni Aviazione company. The aircraft was later sold to a group of friends who used it until they replaced it with the N.C. 2-12, registered I-DIAN.

The last aircraft of the second series, N.C. 2-14, provisional registration I-RAIG, was equipped with a cv 65 Walter Mikron engine, and was redesignated Musca I/Ter as the prototype of an envisioned new series. This aircraft became Franco Muscariello personal airplane.

The last aircraft of the Second Series, N.C. 2-14 (or 3-14), with Franco Muscariello at the controls.

Afterwards

After the end of the aeronautical activities of the Viberti company, Muscariello remained at the technical department of the company with his father, for a while. But, in July 951, he left the company to join the business of his father-in-law, an important metal fabrication company.

Even though his aircraft manufacturing career had apparently ended, he did not let go of his passion for aviation and continued to design airplanes with the collaboration of Francesco Battù. From his mind there originated the studies for the Musca 2, the Musca 3 and Musca 4.

The Musca 2 was going to be a three-seat version of the preceding Muscas. The Musca 3 was a tandem two-seat aircraft with a welded steel tubes airframe. The Musca 4 was something totally different. It was a small single-seat helicopter powered by pulsejets placed at the rotor tips. None of these aircraft were built, and only the drawings remain.

Drawing of the envisioned and never built three-seat Musca 2

Tragedy

Muscariello kept flying with his Musca I/Ter, registered I-RAIG. On April 12, 1953, he crashed with this aircraft and died with a young female student pilot near the Aeritalia (Turin) airfield. He was thirty-four years old. The causes of the accidents were never ascertained.

The aircraft of Franco Muscariello

  

How were the Muscas built?

The architecture of the airframe was common to all the Musca versions. It was a two-seat side-by-side monoplane, entirely built of wood.

The wing consisted of two single-spar semi-wings with trellis type ribs and stressed plywood skin. The structure of the ailerons was similar. The wing had no flaps. Beginning from the second series, the wing tips were built in aluminum sheet metal.

Two aircraft of the First Series being built at the Ali Viberti's shop

The fuselage was a semi-monocoque, with a light Douglas fir frame and stressed plywood skin. A central cross element carried the attachment points of the semi-wings and the ones of the landing gear. The welded steel tube engine mount was attached to the firewall with interposed rubber dampers.

The firewall with the rubber dampers

The empennage had a structure similar to the wing’s. The stabilizer and the elevator were both covered with plywood. The fixed parts were connected to the fuselage through a bolted steel plate to which the tailwheel assembly was also attached. Beginning from the second series, the tips of the empennage were also made of aluminum sheet metal.

The landing was of the conventional (for that time), bicycle, tailwheel type. The main landing gear was a welded steel tube assembly. The shock absorption was by means of rubber bands. On the last aircraft built, N.C. 2-14, the landing gear consisted of two separate cantilever legs attached to the wings, with trailing link type shock absorbers.

The low-pressure tires were mm 365 x 150 and could be streamlined with aerodynamics fairings, or “wheel-pants.” They were equipped with independent brakes, operated from the rudder pedals. For the rear landing gear, the customers had the options of a simple skid or a steerable tailwheel, linked to the rudder pedals. The elastic element was an automobile leaf-spring type shock absorber.

Light metal alloy skis were also an option. The skis were tested successfully on N.C. 1-5 I-PINO. The measured take-off run on skis was only m 80, with a cv 60 engine.

The cockpit was open in the first aircraft built by the AGO group, but it was enclosed in all the following airplanes. Particular attention had been paid to comfort and visibility, which was further increased in the second series. The seats were side-by-side, and the completion of the cockpit was foreseen in three variants. There was a training version, with dual controls and anti-wear protection for frequent intense use. There a version meant for pilots who wanted to fly to maintain proficiency, with a single set of controls, fabric interior with ivory and plexiglass accents. The “Sport” version could have single or dual controls, fabric and leather interior, electrical system, and radio. There are no data on the specific pricing of each version.

Behind the seats there was a baggage compartment that could hold about kg 25 (lbs. 55).

The controls consisted of yokes and pedals with rods and cables actuators.

Some publications state that, besides the basic flight and engine instruments, there was the option of an attitude indicator.

The engines.

According to records, the majority of the completed Muscas were equipped with CNA D-4 cv 60 engines. The engine had been out of production for years, and it is likely that these engines came from the Italian Air Forces warehouses, sold in blocks. The Muscas could also mount Continental or cv 65 Walter Mikron engines. The mounting of the Mikron, since it was an inverted inline engine, required a total redesign of the cowling.

The Musca I-Ter with Walter Mikron engine. Provisionally registered I-RAIG. Note the different engine cowling, the landing gear and the counterbalanced ailerons

All the engines drove a wooden fixed-pitch propeller.

The fuselage fuel tank, placed forward of the cockpit, held l 46 (US gal. 12) of gasoline.

The following are the dimensions and weights of the aircraft of the Musca Series I, as published by Ali Viberti:

 

Wingspan	m 9,50	31 ft. 2 inch.
Length	m 6,65	21 ft. 9 inch.
Height	m 2,30	7 ft. 6 inch.
Mean chord	m 1,50	4 ft. 11 inch.
Wing area	m² 13,9	149 ft²
Empty weight	Kg 393	866 lbs.
Gross weight	Kg 600	1322 lbs.

 

Performance:

In this case too, the discrepancies among the various sources are great.  The differences between the first and the second series of the Musca, depending also on the various engine options, are great as well.

The following are the data published by Ali Viberti for the Musca I First Series with the cv 60 CNA D-4 engine.

Stall speed Vso	Km/h 60	37 mph
Cruise airspeed at rpm 1850	Km/h 155	96 mph
Service ceiling	m 2400	7874 ft.
Range	Km 590	366 statute miles
Take off run	m 80-100	260-330 ft.
Landing run	m 50	165 ft.

          

       Summary of the production of the Musca I by Ali Viberti

First Series	1-1	I-QUAR	Prototype
	1-2
	1-3	I-CTAB	Reggio Emilia Aeroclub
	1-4
	1-5	I-PINO	Mantua Aeroclub
	1-6	I-MUSC	Mantua Aeroclub
	1-7
	1-8	I-MAGD	Sig. Sorlini Renato, Brescia
	1-9	I-VIBE	Ancona Aeroclub
	1-10
			For structural tests
Second Series	2-11	I-CAIA	Former I-RAIA. Property of Battù, Pramaggiore, Vallivero
	2-12	I-DIAN	Property of Battù, Pramaggiore, Vallivero- Now in Trento, Caproni Museum
	2-13		Never completed
Third Series	3-14	I-RAIG	Franco Muscariello

 

What remains?

It is hard to think that all traces of these aircraft, that were built in more than a dozen examples, were lost so soon and almost completely.

The only surviving Musca is preserved at the Caproni Museum of Trento, Italy. It is the N.C. 2-12 I-DIAN with a CNA D-4 engine.

This article was published in Italian by ALI ANTICHE the publication of GAVS an Italian group dedicated to the preservation of the Italian aviation heritage. 

Your comments will be greatly appreciated.

L. Pavese