Spirito Mario Viale (born 7 February 1882) was an Italian engineer. He was born in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, but did most of his important work in France and (in particular) the UK. He was an early manufacturer of aircraft engines, producing a series of 3-, 5-, and 7-cylinder radials from a workshop in

Boulogne-sur-Seine Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the centre of Paris. It is a subprefecture of the Hau ...

from 1910 until the outbreak of World War I. In 1919, he emigrated to the United Kingdom, where he went to work for

Armstrong Siddeley Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury vehicles and aircraft engines. The company was created following t ...

before returning to Italy in the early 1930s to pursue landscape painting and worked with

Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer, also producing trucks, as well as engines for marine and aviation use. Founded in Milan, Italy, in 1900 by Cesare Isotta and the brothers Vincenzo, Antonio, and Oreste Fraschini, in 195 ...

for a time. The rise of fascism drove him back to England, where he found work as chief designer of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

's armaments division. W. A. Robotham recalls him as a brilliant mathematician and talented designer; unfortunately in wartime with glasses and a pointed beard he looked like a foreign secret service agent from novels of the 1920s! When these projects were abandoned, he returned to work on aero engines with Rolls-Royce until his retirement in 1947.

References

Rolls-Royce website
* Lambert, J and Al Ross (1990) ''Allied Coastal Forces of World War II'' Conway. {{DEFAULTSORT:Viale, Spirito Mario Italian aerospace engineers Italian expatriates in France Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom 1882 births Year of death missing Rolls-Royce people British aerospace engineers

See also

References