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Airborne Alfas
Hi Tony,
After Alfa ceased production of its own piston engines ,it restricted its aviation work to overhaul of Curtiss-Wright R-1820 and R-3350 piston engines and J65 turbojet engines,Rolls Royce Dart turboprop and Rolls_Royce Avon and Conway engines .
In the early 1960's it resumed its manufacturing activities ,by joining in the European production programme( with FIAT ,FN of Belgium and BMW ) for FIAT(General Electric) J79-GE-11A turbojet to power the F-104G Starfighter that were being built in Europe. It was also the European distributer of the GE J85 and CJ 610 turbojets.
Alfa also contributed to the Fiat G.91 programme ,as this was powered by the Bristol Orpheus 803 engine I assume that these are the motors that you refer to. Piaggio was the lead manufacturer for the Bristol Viper that powered the Aermacchi MB326 , did Alfa also supply components for this engine?
I saw a press release which referred to the Alfa stand at Le Bourget in 1968 having as many as 17 turbine engines on display although unfortunatly no breakdown on type was given.
In the 1980's Alfa also developed the AR318 turboprop , Which if memory serves was a development of the Rolls-Royce RB-318.
Charley
Last edited by charley; 10-05-2007 at 02:47 AM.
Reason: correct date
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