| F.15 Picchio | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Procaer F.15A Picchio | |
| Role | Utility aircraft |
| National origin | Italy |
| Manufacturer | Procaer, General Avia, Eurospace |
| Designer | Stelio Frati |
| First flight | 7 May 1959 |
| Primary user | Private Pilot owners |
| Number built | c.50 |
The Procaer F.15 Picchio (Italian: "Woodpecker") is an Italian-designed light utility aircraft built by Procaer (PROgetti Costruzioni AERonautiche).
The Picchio was developed in Italy in the late 1950s as a further development of Stelio Frati's Falco and Nibbio designs. Like its predecessors, the Picchio was a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane of exceptionally clean lines, with retractable tricycle undercarriage. Early versions of the Picchio shared the same wooden construction as the earlier designs, but had a thin aluminium skin over the top of their plywood skins. The F.15E and F.15F, however, were all-metal.
Production of the early, wooden Picchios was carried out by Procaer in Milan, but in the mid 1960s, Frati established General Avia as his own factory to build his designs, commencing with the F.15E. Only a few examples were built, however, and the design lay dormant until revived by an Austrian company, HOAC in the mid 1990s. HOAC arranged to have the two-seat F.15F model built at the JSC Sokol plant in Niznij Novgorod, but ran out of money, leaving Sokol with unsold airframes in various states of completion.
The Picchio was primarily intended for operation by private pilot owners and the design was exported to several European countries as well as being purchased by Italian individuals. Several are still airworthy (2012).
Data fromJane's All The World's Aircraft 1961–62 [7]
General characteristics
Performance
The Falco F8L is an Italian-designed lightweight 2-seater aerobatic aircraft.
The Piper PA-24 Comanche is an American single-engine, low-wing, all-metal monoplane of semimonocoque construction with tricycle retractable landing gear and four or six seats. The Comanche was designed and built by Piper Aircraft and first flew on May 24, 1956. Together with the PA-30 and PA-39 Twin Comanches, it made up the core of Piper's lineup until 1972, when the production lines for both aircraft were destroyed in the 1972 Lock Haven flood.
The Citabria is a light single-engine, two-seat, fixed conventional gear airplane which entered production in the United States in 1964. Designed for flight training, utility and personal use, it is capable of sustaining aerobatic stresses from +5g to -2g. Its name, "airbatic" backwards, reflects this.
The Bellanca Viking and Super Viking are a series of single-engine, four-seat, high performance, retractable gear aircraft manufactured in the USA during the 1960s and 1970s. The aircraft developed through modifications of classic designs by the aviation pioneer Giuseppe Bellanca. A total of 1,356 Vikings have been produced with most production between 1968 and 1975.
The Fuji FA-200 Aero Subaru is a single-engine piston-powered monoplane built by Fuji Heavy Industries of Japan.
The General Avia F.22 Pinguino is an Italian two-seat aircraft by GeneralAvia. The aircraft has two side-by-side seats in an enclosed canopy cockpit. It was the 22nd aircraft designed by Stelio Frati. The aircraft was manufactured in four configurations, as well as a prototype four-seater.
The Partenavia P.64B/P.66B Oscar is an Italian two/four-seat, single-engined, high-wing monoplane built by Partenavia.
Neiva Regente is a Brazilian propeller-driven four-seat light utility aircraft manufactured by Indústria Aeronáutica Neiva.
The PZL-105 Flaming (flamingo) is a Polish short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) utility aircraft designed by PZL "Warszawa-Okęcie". It remained a prototype.
The SIAI-Marchetti S.205 is an Italian four-seat, single-engine, light airplane, manufactured by SIAI-Marchetti. The S.205 made its maiden flight in 1965. The Italian Air Force employs a version called S.208.
The Piper Aerostar is an American twin-engined propeller-driven executive or light transport aircraft, designed by Ted R. Smith. It was originally built by Ted Smith Aircraft Company, but the design was acquired in 1978 by the Piper Aircraft Corporation, which continued production of the aircraft as the PA-60.
The Lake Buccaneer is an American four-seat, light amphibious aircraft derived from the Colonial C-2 Skimmer, itself a development of the three-seat Colonial C-1 Skimmer.
The Great Lakes Sport Trainer is an American biplane trainer and aerobatic aircraft. It was originally produced in large numbers before the company building it went bankrupt in the Great Depression in 1933. Owing to its continuing popularity, however, it was eventually placed back into production in the 1970s and again in 2011 by WACO Classic Aircraft.
The Italair F.20 Pegaso was a twin-engine utility aircraft designed by Stelio Frati and built in Italy in 1971.
The Jurca MJ-5 Sirocco is a two-seat sport aircraft designed in France in the early 1960s and marketed for homebuilding. It is one of many wooden homebuilt designs from Romanian born designer Marcel Jurca. Jurca, a Henschel Hs 129 pilot in World War II marketed the plans in Canada and America through Falconar Aviation. It is a low-wing cantilever monoplane of conventional configuration and wooden construction throughout. The tandem seats are enclosed by a bubble canopy, and the tailwheel undercarriage can be built as either fixed or with retractable main units. Marcel Jurca died on 19 October 2001, at which time plans were still available from the designer's website.
The Partenavia P.57 Fachiro is an Italian, four-seat, high-wing, touring monoplane, fitted with a fixed tricycle undercarriage.
The Ambrosini Rondone is an Italian-designed two/three-seat light touring monoplane of the early 1950s.
The Hongdu N-5,, originally known as the Nanchang N-5, is a Chinese agricultural aircraft. First flown in 1989, and entering into production in 1992, the N-5 is a single-engined low-wing monoplane, and is available in versions powered by a piston engine or a turboprop.
The Aviamilano F.14 Nibbio is a four-seat, single engine cabin monoplane built in Italy in the late 1950s. Only ten production aircraft were completed.
The Pasotti F.9 Sparviero was a four-seat, low-wing touring aircraft, built in Italy in the 1950s. Designed by Stelio Frati, it was a single-engine version of his earlier twin-engined Airone. Only one was built.
