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 pla...