Fratelli Pascale Story: from the 30s onward - Tecnam.com

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Fratelli Pascale Story: from the 30s onward achieve the I° grade pilot’s license. We had the medical examination, we were fit and we started immediately the course with the instructor Alfeo Poli on the plane Macchi MB 308. Paying the pilot’s license wasn’t so easy: we didn’t have enough money and we couldn’t ask them at home. Luckily for us a plane Macchi of the Aero Club was damaged during the landing and we proposed to do the repairing, which was used to pay the license for Gino and me. As students, we were doing very well: after only 4 hours of dual controls we already took off by ourselves. The goal was to learn immediately how to fly with our P48 Astore. With days passing by, we became more and more impatient; we had to find by all means a solution to make the plane flying. One evening we met at home and we decided to go to Rome to find a pilot willing to do the test flight. We left in the morning Gino, Nicola Genua and I, with his “Cinquecento” car. We went to the Ministry, Direction of the Civil Aviation where thanks to a friend officer we could consult the rolls of the tester pilots. Among the various names our attention fell on one, Mario De Bernardi, famous ace of the Italian aviation, tester pilot of the first jet aircraft and winner of the Schneider’s Cup. We phoned immediately from the Ministry to De Bernardi asking him for an appointment for the afternoon. His kindness and his simplicity really stroke us, putting ourselves at ease in explaining him our problems. We told him all the vicissitudes to end the P48 construction and our great bitterness. De Bernardi had, like us, a great passion for the flight; he reassured us and promised to be in Naples on the following Saturday. Happy, we went back home thinking that perhaps that was it and that finally we would have seen our creature flying. Punctually that Saturday De Bernardi arrived in Naples. We went to pick him up at the station and right away to the airport where the plane, ready to fly was parked in front of the hangar. De Bernardi really appreciated the shape of the P48 and checked attentively every details of the machine. Gino explained to him all the aerodynamic and structural characteristics and the presumed behavior during the flight. De Bernardi sat at the piloting place; he tried for a long time all the controls then suddenly said: turning airscrew, we are going to fly. This moment so desired, happened so suddenly that it caused me a lump in the throat. All the mechanical parts, the bolts, the lever, the various mechanisms went fast through my mind. I would have liked to postpone uselessly. Gino had launched the propeller, the engine with its powerful roar was on, and I had nothing else to do than closing the door and go away while the plane started to taxi towards the runway. Gino and I started to walk almost instinctively, as if we wanted to follow it on the grass, then we stopped to hear the moment when at full speed it would take off. Nicola Genua was with us, also excited and still, with the look fixed at the end of the runway. Then the roar: the little plane started to run, after a few meters raised the little tail wheel and finally took off. It went up, and up… moved, we couldn’t hold back our tears and we all hugged, without leaving, never even for a second the look from our little wings far in the blue sky. Finally after 20 minutes the P48 landed on the runway (at the time made of grass) with a perfect landing. As soon as the propeller stopped we all run towards De Bernardi, who was already going out from the plane. Gino hugged him moved and after we had the first reports. The plane was well balanced, the controls responded perfectly, except for the ailerons, whose effectiveness resulted poor. The performance as well was satisfactorily: the maximum speed of nearly 180 km per hour was what we had expected even if the engine patched up did not give all his 65 hp. The first flight of the P48 Astore was on April 2 nd 1951 after more than 2 years of intense work, huge sacrifices, bitterness, joys and satisfactions. Naturally, the exploit at a turning point wasn’t over. We had in fact to obtain the Flight Certification for which all the flight tests required by the Regulation were needed. Moreover we had to tune up the plane, making all the necessary changes to the ailerons and fixing many other little things that only the flight experience could suggest. In that period, the prince Gianni Caracciolo Carafa was a frequent guest of the Aero Club. He had been a brave fighter pilot during the last war and passionate about flying. We quickly became good friends and he was very interested in our activity. Having seen in the hangar the P48, he asked about the flying test made by De Bernardi and offered himself to continue the flight tests to obtain the Flight Certification. The meeting with Caracciolo had been very important for us. He was a nice person, a perfect example of a classic noble Neapolitan, he had been very important for our activity. In that period in Italy and abroad a plane competition organized in Sicily and called Giro Aereo Internazionale of Sicily was making its name. In that year was taking place the 3 rd edition scheduled for June 8-10 (1951). The Naples - 10 -
Fratelli Pascale Story: from the 30s onward Aero Club participated with 3 MB 308 piloted by Caracciolo, Piperno and De Cristoforo. Unfortunately our Astore wasn’t ready, so we decided with Gino to equally go to Sicily to assist to the competition. We left in fact by boat to Palermo, where at the Boccadifalco airport we had the incredible show of more than sixty planes lined up on the field waiting for the departure. English, French, Italians planes of all kinds were parked on the grass. There were Norecrin, Proctor Percival, the twin-engine Miles Gemini, the Aero45, Sokol, Grifo Ambrosini, Fairchild, Rian Navion, Piper, in short many different planes, all of them to be watched and looked at minutely with their many constructive details. This experience had been for us very important, from a technical and sportive point of view. We couldn’t wait to have the chance to participate with our Astore and soon our desire would have become true. That year the winner had been Guagnellini on a Rondone F4. The plane and the pilot would have been later one of our antagonists in this competition. So we discovered that beautiful land of Sicily and the Boccadifalco airport from where many times we would have taken off. Once back to Naples, we started immediately the work of change and set up of the plane. We extended the surfaces of the ailerons to make the control more powerful and we also modified the vertical stabilizer moving the rear spar more in the back. Unfortunately the work proceeded very slowly for the total lack of comfort and equipments, being guests in the Aero Club hangar. The engine also gave continuous troubles. Finally first Gino, then myself, succeeded in flying with Caracciolo on our Astore. Thus we felt for the first time this immense joy. For many years we had followed from land the flights of our models, now finally we were in the sky with them. By flying we could notice many needs and personally realize the different functioning. We continued this way the set up flights together with Caracciolo accumulating almost 100 hours of flight, minimum time requested to obtain the Flight Certification. In the mean time, we were in the spring of 1952. The plane after so many tests was finally ready. The RAI asked the transfer of the plane to Rome to do the homologation tests at the Urbe airport. We flew to Rome with the P48, which was its first transfer. We were very anxious; we had to overcome also this proof that was necessary to demonstrate the efficiency and security of the plane. Caracciolo agreed to pilot the plane up to Rome, but De Bernardi as official tester pilot would have done the homologation tests. As always De Bernardi put himself at our disposal and so we organized the transfer with so much anxiety and trepidation. The Naples Aero Club president put a Macchino at our disposal, so from Capodichino Caracciolo on the P48 and the instructor Poli with the engineer Scappin on an Mb 308 left escorting up to Rome. Gino and I left in the early morning going immediately to the Urbe airport. We were walking impatiently up and down the grass, waiting the plane to come. I couldn’t explain the worry and the nervousness of that exhausting wait. It was almost one o’clock; we were all ears trying to perceive also the smallest noise, but nothing, absolutely nothing. Finally a far roar, barely audible, then we perceived a dot that was becoming always bigger. It flew over us speeding fast, doing a beautiful turn and landing right after on the landing trip. After such a tension a little bit of calm, we made it. The morning after the homologations the tests started with all the RAI staff present. De Bernardi with the officer on board did many flights demonstrating: all the stability and the handiness qualities of the plane, then in the afternoon, always piloted by De Bernardi, the P48 did all the taking off and landing tests. Gino and I and other RAI officers measured on the ground the distances made. At dusk the tests were not over yet so we continued the morning after, finishing only around noon. Everything went well. The day after Caracciolo and I went to the RAI Central Direction where the Ing. Simone gave us the Flight Certification. Right after with a taxi we went to the Urbe airport where we took off with the P48. Flying with our creature I gained more and more trust in it and in our work and our possibilities. In a little more than an hour we reached the Capodichino airport where many anxious friends were waiting for us. The first step of a long path was achieved; our thought was flying fast to other creations. Once the Astore was set up, with all the documents in order we could finally participate to sportive competition. We decided to enroll at the IV Giro Aereo di Sicilia that would have take place at the beginning of June. We did our subscription by telegraph and we received the number 10, which we painted, according to the rules, on the side of the fuselage and on the wings. Together with Gino, we decided that I would have accompanied Caracciolo in this first competition, and Gino would have made the Giro dei 7 Laghi in June 28 th at Venegono (Varese). The fuel consumption was very high to cover the distance. We decided to install an additional tank of 30 liters that we connected with a hand pump to the main tanks to do the pouring off the gasoline during the flight. We completely - 11 -
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Fratelli Pascale Story: from the 30s onward - Tecnam.com

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