The I.G.R., Italian Great Reject

  The Mysterious I.G.R. 

  by Giulio Cesare Valdonio  



    I’ve had for many years in my library a brochure that was published in 1937 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the aeronautics laboratory of the Politecnico of Turin (Italy). The lab was started in 1912 by Dr. Modesto Panetti, encouraged by Colonel Motta who was the commander of the Battaglione Specialisti del Genio, the Engineer Specialist Battalion). The brochure contains a picture of an airplane that I cannot identify. In the wind tunnel there is mounted a model of a four-engine central hull seaplane, with braced wing and empennage.





        As far as I know, in Italy the development of an airplane of that kind was never started; so, I thought that it could be academic study with no relation to Italian industry.


    A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Politecnico of Turin’s wind tunnel, which was built after WWII in place of the old venerable wind tunnel, and examine the archived data. I found hundreds of test cards, with charts filled with numbers but devoid of any other information. I remember though that I saw a few cards that referred to a seaplane by Celestino Rosatelli designated I.G.R., an acronym that could mean Idro Grande Rosatelli, Large Rosatelli Seaplane, and therefore they could be referring to the seaplane in the picture.


The model of the seaplane in the wind tunnel. The picture is upside down for better viewing.


   


    Finally, recently I found a picture of an apparently identical model in the Guidonia hydrodynamics test pool, attached to the well-known “high speed rig,” but also in this case there was no data. The airplane vaguely resembles a Sikorsky S.42 flying boat but with cleaner lines and a wing with only one bracing strut. Moved by curiosity, I checked my Treccani encyclopedia, and I found another picture of the rig with the seaplane, but taken from a different angle.



The model of the seaplane mounted on the hydrodynamics high speed test rig in Guidonia  




    Maybe the readers of this article will be able to add some new information about this mysterious paper plane.


    This brief article was taken from Ali Antiche, a publication of G.A.V.S. , an Italian association dedicated to the preservation of Italian aviation heritage.


    Your comments will greatly appreciated.

    Thank you.


    L. Pavese







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