Roy LoPresti
Encyclopedia
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
field, and created an aircraft manufacturing, design and support company which is still in existence.
LoPresti designed the Grumman American AA-5
Grumman American AA-5
The US Grumman American AA-5 series is a family of all-metal, 4-seat, light aircraft used for touring and training. The line includes the original American Aviation AA-5 Traveler, the Grumman American AA-5 Traveler, AA-5A Cheetah, and AA-5B Tiger, the Gulfstream American AA-5A Cheetah, and AA-5B...
, was Chief Engineer and Vice President of Engineering at Mooney where he designed the Mooney 201, and worked at both Beech Aircraft and Piper Aircraft before starting his own company, LoPresti Speed Merchants. Speed Merchants is presently in the process of obtaining FAA certification
Type certificate
A Type Certificate, is awarded by aviation regulating bodies to aerospace manufacturers after it has been established that the particular design of a civil aircraft, engine, or propeller has fulfilled the regulating bodies' current prevailing airworthiness requirements for the safe conduct of...
of the LoPresti Fury
LoPresti Fury
The LoPresti Fury is a prototype sports plane built in the United States in the late 1980s. It is a fast two-seat low wing tail dragger, based on the Globe Swift and made of sheet aluminum. The current engine is a Lycoming IO-360-A1B6, giving the Fury a max speed of 222 mph. The aircraft will carry...
.
Roy LoPresti was born to Agnes LaRusso LoPresti and Patrick LoPresti in Lyndhurst, New Jersey
Lyndhurst, New Jersey
Lyndhurst is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 20,554.Lyndhurst was originally formed as Union Township on February 19, 1852 from portions of Harrison Township...
. While attending New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
as an Aeronautical Engineering student Roy won a Chance Vought
Vought
Vought is the name of several related aerospace firms. These have included, in the past, Lewis and Vought Corporation, Chance Vought, Vought Sikorsky, LTV Aerospace , Vought Aircraft Companies, and the current Vought Aircraft Industries. The first incarnation of Vought was established by Chance M...
Design Award for "Best Student Light Airplane Design".
LoPresti graduated in 1950 and obtained employment with Grumman Aerospace on Long Island, New York, but was soon called to serve in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. He became a pilot in the Air Force, serving a total of six years. During the Korean War he met and married Margaret "Peggy" LoPresti (1952). They would eventually have five children, a daughter and four sons. After his wartime service he returned to work at Wright Field
Wright Field
Wright Field was an airfield of the United States Army Air Corps and Air Forces near Riverside, Ohio. From 1927 to 1947 it was the research and development center for the Air Corps, and during World War II a flight test center....
on fighter design (flying and designing), a job he stated was "made in heaven."
When he returned to Grumman LoPresti worked on missile designs, but was later put in charge of design at their recently acquired American Aviation division in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. American Aircraft was the current holder of the Bede BD-1
Bede BD-1
The BD-1 was a two-seat, single-engine, low-wing monoplane, the first design of American aeronautical engineer Jim Bede. The BD-1 was designed in 1960 as a kit-built aircraft intended for home assembly by amateur builders. Design goals included a kit price of $US 2500, including a rebuilt...
design rights, after Jim Bede
Jim Bede
James R. "Jim" Bede is an aircraft designer, who is often credited with the creation of the modern kitplane market. He has designed well over a dozen aircraft since the 1960s, but a string of business failures have kept most of these designs out of widespread use. -Bede Aviation:Bede was raised in...
had been forced from the company. The BD-1 had promise, but required numerous fixes that American couldn't afford on their own. LoPresti redesigned the aircraft and produced the famed Grumman American AA-5
Grumman American AA-5
The US Grumman American AA-5 series is a family of all-metal, 4-seat, light aircraft used for touring and training. The line includes the original American Aviation AA-5 Traveler, the Grumman American AA-5 Traveler, AA-5A Cheetah, and AA-5B Tiger, the Gulfstream American AA-5A Cheetah, and AA-5B...
and its derivatives. He stayed at Grumman for 16 years, during which time he worked on the Apollo Lunar Module
Apollo Lunar Module
The Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program by Grumman to carry a crew of two from lunar orbit to the surface and back...
, among other projects.
During the 1970s he moved to Mooney Aircraft where he worked lead an aerodynamic clean up of he M20F Executive and called it the Mooney 201. Starting with the already stretched frame of the M20F, LoPresti improved the aerodynamics via a more slanted windshield, sleeker cowling, and some other minor cleanup items. It was the first aircraft to achieve 200mph (201mph top speed) on 200HP. He also led design of the 201's larger cousins, the 231, 252 and 301
Mooney 301
-References:* "Airdata File: Mooney 301". Air International, January 1984, Vol 26 No 1. ISSN 0306-5634. pp. 50–51....
.
He then moved on to become the Vice President of Engineering at Beech Aircraft in Wichita, Kansas
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
, to lead development of the unconventional Beech Starship. As the Starship program ran down the general aviation market was in a process of rapidly downsizing, and LoPresti became increasingly frustrated as he was put into a series of management positions making missiles and bombs. When he expressed his frustration to his wife, she advised him to quit.
In 1987 LoPresti took her advice and joined Piper Aircraft in Vero Beach, Florida
Vero Beach, Florida
Vero Beach is a city in Indian River County, Florida, USA. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the city had a population of 16,939. It is the county seat of Indian River County...
. Piper's new parent, Romeo Charley, had recently restructured the company from bankruptcy, and was looking for new products. They were contacted by the Swift Museum Foundation, seeking someone to produce the Globe Swift
Globe Swift
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Davisson, Budd. "Swiftly, Swiftly: An Appreciation of one of General Aviation's Classic Aircraft." Air Progress, Vol. 45, No. 8, August 1983....
with a variety of upgrades that had been incorporated by its users over the years. The project was put under LoPriesti's care, and the SwiftFire and SwiftFury designs emerged. They showed the prototype at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 1988 and returned with 131 orders, each with a $10,000 deposit.
In spite of this promising start, Piper went bankrupt in 1991, leading to a huge legal squabble over the rights to the designs. LoPresti formed LoPresti Speed Merchants as an upgrade firm, making modifications to existing aircraft to make them fly faster. They also created a large fixed base operation
Fixed base operator
A Fixed-base operator or commonly abbreviated FBO is a term developed in the United States after the passage of the Air Commerce Act of 1926...
in Florida. The company finally gained the rights to build the upgraded Globe Swift, which is now called the LoPresti Fury
LoPresti Fury
The LoPresti Fury is a prototype sports plane built in the United States in the late 1980s. It is a fast two-seat low wing tail dragger, based on the Globe Swift and made of sheet aluminum. The current engine is a Lycoming IO-360-A1B6, giving the Fury a max speed of 222 mph. The aircraft will carry...
.
During the 1980s LoPresti served on the Aeronautical Advisory Committee to the US Congress. In 1990 he received the Godfrey L. Talbot Trophy for outstanding contributions to the science of aerospace engineering, from the Aero Club of New England.
LoPresti was climbing a ladder to clear leaves from his house's rain gutter when he slipped and fell. He died 35 days later (07 August 2002) of complications from the fall.