Antonio Ferri

Antonio Ferri ( born April 5, 1912 in Fiastra, brands, † December 28, 1975 in Long Iceland, USA ) was an Italian aviation and aerospace engineer. He was one of the pioneers of over-and hypersonic flight.

Life

Ferri studied at the University of Rome aeronautical engineering and joined in 1935 as a first lieutenant in the engineer corps of the Italian Air Force, which put him at its research center in Guidonia Monte Celio in Rome. Here he worked with scientists such as Gaetano Arturo Crocco and Luigi Broglio. Ferris Research activities focused on aerodynamics, for which he was able to use four wind tunnels. He directed the construction of a supersonic wind tunnel, where he performed until 1940 spectacular experiments. In addition, he also worked on jet engines and armed with torpedoes, remote-controlled gliders.

Once in September 1943 a truce between Italy and the Allies had entered into force, occupied by the German Wehrmacht and Rome. Ferri is to save some important documents from the war-torn Guidonia and then slam his central Italian origin Fiastra succeeded. There he joined the Italian resistance ( the Resistance ) and eventually became the leader of a partisan brigade that was operating in June 1944 with a British task force ( Vladimir Popskys private army ) at Camerino. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. agent Moe Berg invited him to work at American research institutions. The proposal for this came from the Hungarian- German - American scientist Theodore von Kármán, who knew Ferris experiments and studies on aerodynamics. Ferri accepted the invitation and worked in the postwar period at Langley Research Center, at various universities and for some companies.

Ferri died in 1975 in the U.S.. His ashes were buried in his hometown Fiastra in the Marche.