Blimey Brown, they've built my damned doodles!
Transavia Airtruck - a beautiful functional ugly duckling and popular with aerial ag.
by Lynette Zuccoli
This article appeared in the December 2001 issue of the Falco Builders Letter.
Beauty and the Beast. Falco sleeps with fascist Gee Bee
Sitting around our lunch table about six years ago, our usual subjects of discussion, sex, rock 'n roll and anything politically incorrect, was interupted by Guido, who had found a picture of the most bizarre and ugly plane we had ever seen. It was published in a book by Giorgio Evangelisti.
The aircraft was the Stipa Caproni, designed by Luigi Stipa and built by the Caproni factory in Italy. We were all astonished when Guido announced, "We must have one of those!".
No-one we knew wanted to build it. So we sought someone who was creative, imaginative with not a great sense of embarrassment, and Bryce Wolff was the chosen one.
Work was commenced shortly after using the available information at hand, then in January 1997, Guido was lucky enough to personally meet with Count Gianni Caproni. He generously gave us information and plans, although very scant, we were able to proceed with the project.
Sadly, Guido left us in March 1997, but his dreams and purpose were strong, and we were motivated to carry on.
We purchased the Italian Simonini racing engine, a bit ironic as it was for a very slow aircraft. The engine was suitable for the 65% scale replica of the original, which we did not consider building as it went into the "too hard basket" as we did not have "Experimental Category" in Australia at that time. Also, the original was rather large, with the fuselage standing at over 12 feet tall and wing span at about 50 feet.
Consenting Aviators: Lynette Zuccoli and the Stipa Caproni.