Piaggio Aero
Encyclopedia
Piaggio Aero Industries is an aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...

 manufacturing company born from the former Rinaldo Piaggio SPA, an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 company. The company is one of the world's oldest airplane manufacturers, and its planes have been well known from the early days of aviation history
Aviation history
The history of aviation has extended over more than two thousand years from the earliest attempts in kites and gliders to powered heavier-than-air, supersonic and hypersonic flight.The first form of man-made flying objects were kites...

.

Today, Piaggio Aero Industries is an aerospace company that designs, develops, constructs and maintains aircraft, engines and aircraft structural components. Piaggio Aero Industries was established in November 1998 when a group of shareholders headed by Piero Ferrari and Josè Di Mase acquired the assets of the business formerly known as Rinaldo Piaggio S.p.A. Today, Piaggio Aero Industries is active in both aircraft, aero-engines and aero structures manufacturing.

In 2006 Mubadala Development, acquired a 35% stake Piaggio Aero Industries S.p.A. Mubadala Development Company is a wholly owned investment vehicle of the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...

, in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2008, Indian conglomerate Tata Group
Tata Group
Tata Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Tata Group is one of the largest companies in India by market capitalization and revenue. It has interests in communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy,...

 acquired one-third stake of Piaggio Aero Industries S.p.A, becoming one of the primary shareholders, alongside Ferrari and Di Mase families and Mubadala Development Company. Tata Limited, a UK based subsidiary of Tata Sons, has been representing Tata Sons in Europe since 1907.

There is also a subsidiary in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Piaggio America, located at West Palm Beach, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

.

Background

Piaggio was founded in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

 in 1884, originally outfitting ocean liners and manufacturing rolling stock for the developing railway infrastructure at the turn of the century. Due to financial gains in this industry, Rinaldo Piaggio was able to build a factory in 1906 in Final Marina. Today, the site of Piaggio’s facility is in Finale Ligure
Finale Ligure
Finale Ligure is a comune on the Gulf of Genoa in the Province of Savona in Liguria, Italy. It is considered part of the Italian Riviera.-Geography:...

, where Piaggio Aero began to manufacture aircraft and aircraft engines.

The 1920's served as an important time in the company's history when, Piaggio Aero brough one Giovanni Pegna and Giuseppe Gabrielli
Giuseppe Gabrielli
Giuseppe Gabrielli was an Italian aeronautics engineer. He is famous as designer of numerous Italian military aircraft, including the FIAT G.50 and G.55 World War II fighters....

, two aeronautical engineers, to help develop Piaggio's aeronautic line. Together they created modern technical solutions for aviation, that brought forth the design and build of the world’s first helicopter.

Senator Rinaldo Piaggio died in 1938, at 71 years old, thus ending the Rinaldo Piaggio era. When the battles of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 left the company’s facilities in ruins, it was Rinaldo’s sons Enrico, inventor of the Vespa
Vespa
Vespa is an Italian brand of scooter manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian.The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A...

 motor scooter, and Armando, who began the rebuilding process.

1948 was the year Piaggio launched the Piaggio P.136
Piaggio P.136
|-References: ISSN = 1742-996X...

, a twin-engine seaplane, that was operated by the Italian Air Force
Italian Air Force
The Italian Air Force has gone under different names in different periods:*Regia Aeronautica , from 1923 to June 1946*Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, the air force of Italian Social Republic during World War II...

, when liaison transport missions were needed. Due to the increase of basic aircraft training, the German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

 ordered 265 Piaggio P.149
Piaggio P.149
|-See also:-References:* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft , 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 2714...

 units in 1953. By 1957 Piaggio created the Piaggio P.166
Piaggio P.166
The Piaggio P.166 is a twin-engine pusher-type utility aircraft developed by the Italian aircraft manufacturer Piaggio Aero.The aircraft is known as Albatross in South African military service....

 light transport aircraft that was marketed and produced for the military and civilian personnel worldwide.

In 1960, Piaggio, under the license of the Rolls Royce Viper and started manufacturing jet engines. This move led to the expansion of Piaggio’s current business.

In 1966, the company separated into two separate entities, one was Vespa motor scooter and the other Piaggio Aero. Though one focused on the developments of the motor scooter and the other on aeronautical, both companies still maintain the Piaggio name.

By 1998, the assets of Rinaldo Piaggio S.p.A. exchanged hands and a group of entrepreneurs headed by the Di Mase and Ferrari families and Piaggio became Piaggio Aero Industries. This acquiring of assets brought Piaggio Aero Industries back to its roots, as a designer and producer of business aircraft.

Location

Piaggio Aero Industries has production facilities covering 120,000 square meters (1.3 million square feet) in the northwest Italian cities of Genoa Sestri and Finale Ligure
Finale Ligure
Finale Ligure is a comune on the Gulf of Genoa in the Province of Savona in Liguria, Italy. It is considered part of the Italian Riviera.-Geography:...

, as well as a High Technology Center based in Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli is a city and comune of the province of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean peninsula.-History:Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of Dicaearchia...

, near Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

.

The final aircraft assembly and flight-testing of aircraft is located at main facility in Genoa, which includes the corporate headquarters. Also located here is the Company’s new JAR 145 certified service center, which offers full service and support to Piaggio P.180 Avanti customers as well as other aircraft. Piaggio Aero also operates two additional service centers, one at Rome’s Ciampino Airport
Ciampino Airport
-Access:There is no rail transport at Ciampino Airport. There are direct bus connections both to Roma Termini railway station and to close local stations...

 and the other at the Pratica di Mare Air Base. These service centers provide support services to commercial, government and military customers.

Aircraft and engine component manufacturing operations, general engineering, and engine maintenance and overhaul are all undertaken at Finale Ligure. Operations include a maintenance center and two production areas, one for engines and sheet metal parts, another for major aircraft sub-assemblies and aero structures. The High Technology Center is located in the Campania region of Italy, near Naples, focuses on aero structure design and innovative systems research. It includes the Piaggio High Technology (PHT) division, a corporate research facility which focuses on innovative aeronautical technologies. The PHT division is a joint partnership between Piaggio Aero Industries, the Italian Aerospace Research Centre
Italian Aerospace Research Centre
The Italian Aerospace Research Centre is a consortium established in July 1984 to promote the growth and success of the aerospace industry in Italy...

 (CIRA), and other European research centers. The goal is to establish the PHT as a Center of Excellence for aeronautic research and development. This center is projected to continue the Piaggio Aero tradition of new and innovative aerospace technologies and products.

Piaggio Aero is building a new modern manufacturing facility in Villanova d’Albenga, about 70 kilometers west of Genoa. Designed around the principles of lean manufacturing technologies, this plant will allow Piaggio Aero to increase production capacity, production efficiency and optimize workflow.

Ferrari's Choice

This story starts, odd as it may seem, in 1923 when Count Francesco Baracca, a fighter pilot who flew more than thirty successful missions on behalf of the allied forces, adopted a distinctive prancing horse as his personal emblem, and had it emblazoned prominently on his biplane fighter aircraft. Post-war, in 1923, another Italian gentleman earned hero status in a quite different way: Enzo Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari
Enzo Anselmo Ferrari Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian race car driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari car manufacturer...

 drove to victory on the Salvio circuit in Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...

. This performance, legend has it, so impressed Count Baracca’s mother, the Countess Paolina, that she donated her son’s symbol to him, saying to use the horse, on cars and it will bring you him good luck. Ferrari himself added a background of yellow to the black horse, symbolic of his birth city, Modena, and thus the now famous Ferrari “cavallino rampante” was born. Since then the prancing horse has remained Ferrari's trademark, and now the ’Cavallino Rampante' has returned to aviation thanks to Piaggio Aero.

The P.180 Avanti II is the only aircraft to proudly display the legendary prancing horse as part of its livery, because it is the business aircraft flown by the "Scudera Ferrari" the Ferrari racing team.

Aero Engines

Piaggio Aero Industries is the only company in the world active both in the aircraft and the aero-engine business. It currently manufactures parts and performs maintenance, repair and overhaul operations on jet, turbo shaft and turboprop engines under license from Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce plc
Rolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...

 (UK) and Honeywell
Honeywell
Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....

 (USA); it also holds Long Term Agreements from other Original Equipment Manufacturers, including Pratt & Whitney, Pratt & Whitney Canada
Pratt & Whitney Canada
Pratt & Whitney Canada is a Canadian aircraft engine manufacturer. PWC's headquarters are in Longueuil, Quebec, just outside Montreal. It is a division of the larger US-based Pratt & Whitney , itself a business unit of United Technologies...

 and Micro turbo, whose engines power civil and military aircraft and helicopters.

In 2000, Piaggio Aero Industries signed a collaboration agreement with Rolls — Royce to join the RTM 322 turbo shaft engine program as a manufacturing partner. Currently, Piaggio Aero Industries manufactures a significant share of the RTM322 engine parts.

In 2003 Piaggio Aero Industries was selected by Pratt & Whitney to supply the Low Pressure Turbine case and the bearing compartment housings for the F.135 engine, powering the F. 35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

In 2006 Piaggio Aero Industries has signed an agreement with Pratt & Whitney Canada to acquire 25% of the share capital of P&WC Turbo Engines Corp., which is in charge of the production of the PW206 – PW207 helicopter engines which fits out many helicopter models such as the Agusta A109
Agusta A109
The AgustaWestland AW109 is a light-weight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter built by the Anglo-Italian manufacturer AgustaWestland...

 Power', the Eurocopter EC/135, the Bell Helicopter B427, the MD Helicopters MD900 and the Kazan Ansat. Piaggio Aero will produce engine components and will be house of the final assembly line as well as the maintenance overall al repair activities for the Pw206-207 engines.

Piaggio Aero Industries has also experience in the area of infrared suppression systems (IRS) for helicopters; the Agusta A129, part of the Italian Army fleet, is currently equipped with an IRS, designed, tested and manufactured by Piaggio Aero Industries.

Aerostructures

Piaggio Aero has a long tradition in the manufacture of major aerostructures.
The company has many years’ experience in designing complex aircraft components and sub assemblies and in manufacturing them using state-of-the-art machine tools.

Piaggio has been developing a new twin-engined jet, called the Piaggio P1XX
Piaggio P1XX
The Piaggio P1XX is a proposed twin-jet aircraft being developed by Piaggio Aero. Piaggio has assured potential buyers that the design is not merely a "re-engine" of the P180 Avanti. A dedicated team is working on the design...

, since 2006; but in August 2010 it decided to postpone production.

Aircraft models

  • Piaggio P.2
    Piaggio P.2
    The Piaggio P.2 was an Italian fighter prototype of advanced design built by Piaggio in 1923.-Design and development:In 1923, the Pegna-Bonmartini workshops at Sestri Ponente in Genoa, Italy, were constructing a fighter aircraft prototype designed by Ing Giovanni Pegna around the smallest airframe...

     (single-engine low-wing single-seat monoplane
    Monoplane
    A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...

     fighter
    Fighter aircraft
    A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...

     prototype
    Prototype
    A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...

    )
  • Piaggio P.3 (four-engine biplane
    Biplane
    A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...

     night bomber
    Bomber
    A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...

     prototype)
  • Piaggio P.6
    Piaggio P.6
    |-See also:...

     (reconnaissance floatplane
    Floatplane
    A floatplane is a type of seaplane, with slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage; only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, with the fuselage remaining above water...

    )
  • Piaggio P.7
    Piaggio P.7
    -References:*Vašiček, Radko. "When Seaplanes Ruled the Sky." Aviation History, September 2002....

     (high-wing racing monoplane for the 1929 Schneider Trophy
    Schneider Trophy
    The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider was a prize competition for seaplanes. Announced by Jacques Schneider, a financier, balloonist and aircraft enthusiast, in 1911, it offered a prize of roughly £1,000. The race was held eleven times between 1913 and 1931...

     seaplane race; unflown) :it:Piaggio P.C.7
  • Piaggio P.8
    Piaggio P.8
    |-See also:-External links:*...

     (single-engine parasol wing
    Parasol wing
    A parasol wing monoplane is an aircraft design in which the wing is not mounted directly to the fuselage, but rather, the fuselage is supported beneath it by a set of struts, called cabane struts...

     single-seat reconnaissance floatplane
    Floatplane
    A floatplane is a type of seaplane, with slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage; only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, with the fuselage remaining above water...

    )
  • Piaggio P.9
    Piaggio P.9
    The Piaggio P.9 was an Italian single-engined strut-braced high-wing cabin monoplane designed and built by Piaggio as a tourer for the civil market. The wooden-built two-seat P.9 was first flown in 1929 powered by a Blackburn Cirrus II piston engine....

     (single-engine high-wing two-seat monoplane)
  • Piaggio P.10
    Piaggio P.10
    |-See also:...

     (single-engine three-seat biplane floatplane)
  • Piaggio P.11 (licensed copy of the Blackburn Lincock)
  • Piaggio P.16
    Piaggio P.16
    -References:*http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1936/1936%20-%200073.html...

     (three-engine heavy bomber
    Heavy bomber
    A heavy bomber is a bomber aircraft of the largest size and load carrying capacity, and usually the longest range.In New START, the term "heavy bomber" is used for two types of bombers:*one with a range greater than 8,000 kilometers...

    )
  • Piaggio P.23 (four-engine commercial transport prototype)
  • Piaggio P.23R (three-engine commercial transport prototype)
  • Piaggio P.32
    Piaggio P.32
    |-See also:-References:* Vigna, Achille, il Piaggio P.32, Storia Militare magazine n.100 Nov. 1997...

     (twin-engine bomber
    Bomber
    A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...

    )
  • Piaggio P.50
    Piaggio P.50
    -External links:*...

     (four-engine heavy bomber)
  • Piaggio P.108
    Piaggio P.108
    The Piaggio P.108 Bombardiere was the only Italian four-engine heavy bomber used by the Axis powers during World War II. The prototype first flew in 1939 and it entered service in 1941....

     (four-engine heavy bomber)
  • Piaggio P.111
    Piaggio P.111
    -References:*-External links:*...

     (high-altitude research aircraft)
  • Piaggio P.119
    Piaggio P.119
    |-See also:-References:*Gigli-Cervi, Alessandro; I caccia con motore centrale Aerei nella Storia magazine, Westward editions, Parma, n. Feb 2000-External links:* *...

     (single-engine single-seat fighter)
  • Piaggio P.136
    Piaggio P.136
    |-References: ISSN = 1742-996X...

     (amphibian flying boat
    Flying boat
    A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...

    )
  • Piaggio P.148
    Piaggio P.148
    |-See also:-References:* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft , 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 2714...

     (two-seat primary/aerobatic trainer
    Trainer (aircraft)
    A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate in-flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristics and a simplified cockpit arrangement—allows...

    )
  • Piaggio P.149
    Piaggio P.149
    |-See also:-References:* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft , 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 2714...

     (four/five-seat utility/liaison
    Liaison aircraft
    A liaison aircraft is a small, usually unarmed aircraft primarily used by military forces for artillery observation or transporting commanders and messages. The concept developed before World War II and included also battlefield reconnaissance, air ambulance, column control, light cargo delivery...

     or two-seat trainer, also known as Focke-Wulf
    Focke-Wulf
    Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190.-History:...

     FWP-149D)
  • Piaggio P.150
    Piaggio P.150
    |-See also:-References:* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft , 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 2714...

     (two-seat trainer)
  • Piaggio P.166
    Piaggio P.166
    The Piaggio P.166 is a twin-engine pusher-type utility aircraft developed by the Italian aircraft manufacturer Piaggio Aero.The aircraft is known as Albatross in South African military service....

     (utility light transport)
  • Piaggio P.180 Avanti : business aircraft
  • Piaggio PD-808 (twin-jet light utility transport)
  • Piaggio P1XX
    Piaggio P1XX
    The Piaggio P1XX is a proposed twin-jet aircraft being developed by Piaggio Aero. Piaggio has assured potential buyers that the design is not merely a "re-engine" of the P180 Avanti. A dedicated team is working on the design...

    (under development)

External links

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