Raúl Pateras Pescara de Castelluccio (1890 – 1966),

marquis A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or wido ...

of Pateras-Pescara, was an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

from

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

who specialized in

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s and

free-piston engine A free-piston engine is a linear, 'crankless' internal combustion engine, in which the piston motion is not controlled by a crankshaft but determined by the interaction of forces from the combustion chamber gases, a rebound device (e.g., a piston ...

s. Pescara is credited for being one of the first people to successfully utilize

cyclic pitch Helicopter flight controls are used to achieve and maintain controlled aerodynamic helicopter flight. Changes to the aircraft flight control system transmit mechanically to the rotor, producing aerodynamic effects on the rotor blades that make t ...

, as well as pioneering the use of

autorotation Autorotation is a state of flight in which the main rotor system of a helicopter or other rotary-wing aircraft turns by the action of air moving up through the rotor, as with an autogyro, rather than engine power driving the rotor. Bensen, Igor ...

for the safe landing of a damaged helicopter. Pescara also set a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

(at the time) in 1924 for achieving a speed of in a helicopter.

Biography

Pescara was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and at the beginning of the 20th century, his family left Argentina to return to Europe.

Aircraft

In 1911, using a workshop that Pescara was involved with,

Gustave Eiffel Alexandre Gustave Eiffel ( , ; Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer. A graduate of École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway net ...

tested a scale model (1:20) of a

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

(

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

design) named the ''Pateras Pescara'', designed by Pescara and Italian engineer

Alessandro Guidoni Alessandro Guidoni (July 15, 1880 – April 27, 1928) served as a General officer, general in the ''Regia Aeronautica'' (Italian Royal Air Force). Guidonia Montecelio, the small town and ''comune'' where he died while testing a new parachute, was ...

, in a

wind tunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...

. In 1912, the Italian Ministry of the Navy commissioned Guidoni to build a torpedo bomber based on the Pescara model; but following tests in 1914, Guidoni was unable to create a successful design. From 1919, Pescara built several

coaxial In geometry, coaxial means that several three-dimensional linear or planar forms share a common axis. The two-dimensional analog is ''concentric''. Common examples: A coaxial cable has a wire conductor in the centre (D), a circumferential ou ...

helicopters and submitted numerous

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s across several countries. He first tested his machine indoors in 1921, before moving to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, where government funding was available. His "No. 3" design had two

contra-rotating Contra-rotating, also referred to as coaxial contra-rotating, is a technique whereby parts of a mechanism rotate in opposite directions about a common axis, usually to minimise the effect of torque. Examples include some aircraft propellers, r ...

"screws", with each screw having four blades, and each blade a

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

wing with

wing warping Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft or kite. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposit ...

for control. On January 16, 1924, at

Issy-les-Moulineaux Issy-les-Moulineaux () is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France, lying on the left bank of the river Seine. Its citizens are called in French. It is one of Paris's entrances and is located from Notre Dame Cathedral, whic ...

near Paris, Pescara broke his own world record for helicopter flight with his model 2F, ''The Marquis Pateras'', by remaining in the air 8 minutes and 13 4/5 seconds, whilst flying in a vertical line." On January 29, 1924, whilst attempting to win the French Aero Club prize for a

closed circuit Closed circuit can refer to: *Closed-circuit television *Closed-circuit radio *Closed circuit breathing apparatus, commonly known as rebreathers for portable units, and as component parts of life-support systems for more complex equipment. * ''Clo ...

, Pescara completed the course in 10 minutes, 33 seconds, but was not permitted to qualify due to his machine's brief contact with the ground. Equipped with coaxial double rotor apparatus, the engineer then set the first helicopter record recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI); On April 18, 1924, he flew a distance of ,FAI Record ID #13094 - Straight distance. Class E former G (Helicopters), piston
" ''

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The World Air Sports Federation (; FAI) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintains worl ...

(FAI).'' Retrieved: 21 September 2014. with a duration of 4 minutes, 11 seconds (approximately ) and a height of .

Automobiles

In 1929, together with his brother Henri, the Italian engineer Edmond Moglia and the

Spanish government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...

, Pescara founded La Fábrica Nacional de Automóviles ("National Automobile Factory") with an investment of 70 million pesetas. Pescara utilized the new factory to focus upon automobiles, and in 1931 he exhibited his creation, the '' Nacional Pescara'', at the 1931

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show () is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently takes place in Paris expo Porte de V ...

. The vehicle appeared at the

Grand Palais The (; ), commonly known as the , is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine, France. Construction of the began in 1897 following the demolitio ...

next to Voisin'sPhotos available on the website http://www.pateras-pescara.net. and in 1931, the eight-cylinder car won the

European Grand Prix The European Grand Prix (also known as the Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held every year from to , except in . During these years, the European Grand Prix was held in a countr ...

for

hillclimbing Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...

Air compressors

The

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

forced Pescara to return to France, and on February 28, 1933, the "Pescara Auto-compressor Company" was unveiled in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. The auto-compressor company remained in business for 30 years, supported by six French patents with one of its

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

s, and the Pescara & Raymond Corporation, based in

Dover, Delaware Dover ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and the List of municipalities in Delaware, second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, Delaware, Kent County and the princ ...

, USA. Pescara auto-compressors fulfill two basic designs:

symmetrical Symmetry () in everyday life refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, the term has a more precise definition and is usually used to refer to an object that is invariant under some transformations ...

and

asymmetrical Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry (the property of an object being invariant to a transformation, such as reflection). Symmetry is an important property of both physical and abstract systems and it may be displayed in pre ...

Free-piston engines and generators

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Pescara worked on electrical power in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Free-piston engine A free-piston engine is a linear, 'crankless' internal combustion engine, in which the piston motion is not controlled by a crankshaft but determined by the interaction of forces from the combustion chamber gases, a rebound device (e.g., a piston ...

s received new attention when they were

mass-produced Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. ...

by the Société Industrielle Générale de Mécanique Appliquée (SIGMA), a French company that developed the GS-34, a 1138-

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

generator.A review of free-piston engine history and applications
- R. Mikalsen et A.P. Roskilly, Applied Thermal Engineering, Volume 27, Issues 14-15, October 2007, Pages 2339–2352. In 1963, Pescara rejoined his sons in Paris where he served as an expert for S.N. Marep during the testing of its 2000-horsepower EPLH-40. Pescara subsequently proposed the production of more powerful machines - new

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

generators based on the existing EPLH-40 and GS-34 - but died in Paris, France, before the company that was to develop the engineer's proposal was established.

References

External links

*
Family website

* ttps://books.google.com/books?id=S-QDAAAAMBAJ&dq=Popular+Mechanics+1931+%22all-metal%22&pg=PA460 "Helicopter With Six Blades Succeeds In Tests", March 1931, Popular Mechanics
"The Pescara Helicopter"
''Flight'' 1921 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pescara, Raul Pateras De Castelluccio Argentine inventors Argentine aerospace engineers 1890 births 1966 deaths History of aviation Aviation inventors Argentine nobility Articles containing video clips People associated with the internal combustion engine Aviation record holders Rotorcraft flight record holders 20th-century inventors 20th-century Argentine engineers