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

Fratelli Pascale Story: from the 30s onward
After a while having knew that at Cerreto Sannita some acquaintances had an almost new German DKW motorbike
that they couldn’t make it work, we got in touch and organized the exchange with the BMW at face value. The DKW
with two-stroke engine of 350 cc was really a jewel. We started working briskly and discovered the pleasure of the
coil ignition circuit. Also this motorbike was completely repainted from the military green to a nice bright red. I
remember that to dilute the painting we went by bicycle to the nearby towns looking for acetone. We found the one
for ladies nails. The DKW was very fast and equipped with a speed indicator. I remember that Gino and I tried for
the first time 120 km/hour though the roads were not paved.
Unfortunately it did not last long. One day coming back from Benevento, the English police confiscated us the
motorbike that was obviously illegal. It belonged in fact to the German army and was without any plate or
documents.
In spring we moved to Naples were we started again our modeling construction within the GAN (Gruppo
Aeromodellisti Napoletani, Neapolitan Aero model designer Group). We participated to various races, some
nationals, placing us often to the first places. In that period we met the best Neapolitan aircraft model enthusiast with
whom we became friends. Gagliotta, Canestrelli, Buonomo were the most successful in the group. It will be with
their help that we realized our big exploit.
Amongst the most important races I remember the Concorso Nazionale Coppa Arno in Florence where we went with
the Neapolitan team. The sacrifices and the discomfort that we had to face to participate to this competition were
simply crazy. I remember that to do the train tickets we went out from our house at two o’ clock at night and walking
as there were no public transports at that time, we made all the road form Via Tasso to the Central Station. In front of
the ticket office, we were the first in line and only after some hours we could make our tickets valid for the day after.
The trip was a disaster, standing in a crowded wagon where we barely managed to save our models from being
destroyed. Then the race at the Peretola Airport during a magnificent morning of June. Our motorbike model with a
KRATMO engine did three magnificent launches scoring more than fifteen minutes of flight winning the second
place.
In April 1948, we participated on the Pomigliano d’Arco field to an interregional race, the Vesuvio Trophy where the
aircraft models enthusiast from Naples, Rome, Salerno and Benevento participated. With our model we wan the
second place with two great launches. The Pomigliano field was at that time occupied by the RAF and the English let
us use the grass for our launches. They were very kind and also gave us the use of a woodshed often giving us a jeep
to the recovery of the models.
By this time, times were ready to do the big step; all the presuppositions were starting to take shape. With Gino we
talked about if often and also our dearest friends knew it. To start our exploit we were only missing that spark that
set off our energy to come. The occasion arrived some times later in a completely unexpected and accidental way.
The GAN had organized in fact for the beginning of May a competition on a slope on the Camaldoli hill and Gino
and I went there to assist to it without participating meeting with pleasure many old friends especially Nicola Genua,
a young aircraft model enthusiast from Benevento who also moved to Naples after the war. We informed him of our
projects while we descended on foot the road that from Camaldoli leaded to XXIII Marzo. Nicola was enthusiast
about our project to which he gave all his support confirming us the usual enthusiasm and passion.
At this point a parenthesis was due to introduce another important element for our project. In that after war period
Italy was dull of ARAR fields where the entire war surplus were piled up to be sold to the public at very convenient
prices. One day Buonomo, our friends and GAN members alerted us for having perceived in the ARAR field of
Bagnoli various continental engines 65 hp that could be bought at a low price. Immediately Gino and I ran to Bagnoli
where we found four or five damaged engine that according to us were retrievable. We bought immediately the lot
for fifty liras per kilo and with a truck trailer towed by a Fiat 509 spider belonging to Buonomo; we carried
everything in our garage of Via Tasso. We disassembled all the engines choosing and cleaning accurately all the
parts could be used. Some cylinders had been pierced with the oxy-hydrogen flame and they were completely
useless. Others instead had undamaged canes but the heads were without finning. The problem was to unscrew the
undamaged heads of the pierced cylinders in order to screw them on the good ones; unfortunately this operation was
not easy because the aluminum head easily jammed on the steel cylinder. After many trials, heating the head and
cooling the cylinder with dry ice, we managed to save the 4 cylinders.
Another difficult problem to be solved was that someone had taken off the platinized centres from the magnetos, as
they were valuable. While we tried to solve this problem, luck was on our side. In fact one day coming back in
- 6 -