AEROMEDIA
The Italian Aerospace Information Web
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Turin hosted the Italian meeting of the Fournier aircraft

On June 6, 2013, the first Italian meeting of aircraft belonging to the Fournier dynasty was held at Turin/Aeritalia airport. After the event some of the aircraft flew to the Vische airfield from where, the following day, they departed for their subsequent destinations. The gathering was successfully organized by the Club Fournier International and Eugenio Lanza di Casalanza, the founder of Associazione Volovelistica Alpi Graie. Thirteen aircraft of the RF-3, RF-4, RF-4D, RF-5, RF-5B e RF-6B-100 models, coming from five countries, took part in the event.
René Fournier, born at Tours on April 14, 1921, put his signature on a series of motor gliders and tourism aircraft produced without interruptions from 1960 to the late 'Nineties. The various models of motor gliders were characterized by high aspect ratio wings and retractable landing gear, progressively passing from wood and fabric construction to composite materials and finally to metal. The RF-01 prototype (F-WJGX), powered by a 27 HP Volkswagen automobile engine, flew for the first time on May 30, 1960, at Cannes/Mandelieu airport piloted by Charles Fauvel. The first RF-2, an improved version powered by a 38.5 HP Rectimo 4AR 1200 engine, flew in 1962. This model was very promising but Fournier did not have his own factory and the French government assigned the series production of the RF-2 to Pierre Robin's CEA (Centre-Est Aéronautique) which produced just two items.
After this disappointment, Fournier offered his project to Alpavia, a small manufacturer set up by Antoine d'Assche at Gap/Tallard airport. The RF-2 structure was simplified to favour the series production. A total of 88 of the resulting RF-3 aircraft had been built by 1966 when Alpavia went out of business. In 1965 the RF-4 was designed having a reinforced structure suitable for aerobatic flight. Alpavia had still time to build two of them, thereafter the licence production was transferred to Sportavia-Pützer in Germany which built 155 RF-4's. In the meantime Fournier completed the drawings for his first two-seater, designated RF-5. It was produced by Sportavia-Pützer for a record total of over 200 items. Other RF-5's were manufactured in Brazil by Aeronaútica del Jaén (AeroJaén) as the RF-5 AJ-1 Serrania.
In 1974 there was a market decline for motor gliders. The designer decided to set up, at the small Nitray airfield near Tours, his own manufacturing company named Avions Fournier. Before its demise in 1977, this new company built 45 two-seat RF-6B's, including 44 RF-6B-100's powered by a 100 HP Continental O-200-A engine, all of which were conventional light aircraft. The RF-6B design rights were then transferred to Slingsby Aviation, a British company, which produced it as the T67 Firefly and the T3A. This latter version was also bought by the RAF and the USAF for primary training. The successive aerobatic RF-7, with reduced wingspan, was never certified. Fournier returned to the pure motor glider configurations with the side-by-side two-seat RF-8 for the military market and its RF-9 civil counterpart. The complex manufacturing process limited the production to twelve items for civil customers.
The successive T-tail RF-10 was an evolution of the RF-9 using composite materials. The two prototypes required a series of aerodynamic changes to solve spin recovery problems. The Marmande-based Aérostructure built just thirteen items up until 1984 when the production licence was transferred to Aeromot in Brazil which built a significant number of RF-10s, known as the AMT-100 Ximango. This was followed by half a dozen progressively improved variants.
As is evident, the story of René Fournier's life in aviation was complex and characterized by successes and failures. The proud owners of those still airworthy Fournier aircraft are linked by the pride of belonging to an unforgettable piece of aviation history. A list of the aircraft which took part in the Turin meeting is given below.

MARKSMANUFACTURER / TYPEPILOTS/N - YEAR OF MANUFACTURE - NOTES
I-OMAR Fournier (AeroJaén) RF-5 AJ-1 Serrania Enrico Mazza s/n E-003 (1992) 68 HP Limbach SL 1700 E Comet engine
D-KOHO Fournier (Sportavia-Pützer) RF-4D Sylvain Gyelen s/n 4079 (1966)
D-KAAL Fournier (Sportavia-Pützer) RF-5B Sperber Claus Maier s/n 51075 (1989)
F-CAHM Fournier (Aérostructure) RF-9 Michel Leblanc s/n 3 (1980), based at Chavenay-Villepreux (Paris Region)
F-GADE Fournier (Avions Fournier) RF-6B-100 Jean Paul & Marie Claire Lauvergnat s/n 6 (1976), based at Montelucon Damerat (Auvergne)
HB-2005 Fournier (Alpavia) RF-3 Jean-Louis Brodard, Lausanne s/n 28 (1964), ex F-BMDI until April 1969, to I-RYMO in 2019
F-BORI Fournier (Sportavia-Pützer) RF-4D Philippe Dufay s/n 4017 (1967), based at Saverne-Steinbourg (Alsace)
I-RFOS Fournier (Sportavia-Pützer) RF-5 Alberto Sobrero e Renato Potieri s/n 5027 (1969), ex OH-385, based at Envie airfield
G-AZRM Fournier (Sportavia-Pützer) RF-5 Michael James Millar s/n 511 (1972)
F-CNTT Fournier (Alpavia) RF-3 Jean Marc Czyzewski s/n 86 (2013), based at Chateaux-Arnoux/St-Auban (Provence)
I-TBTA Fournier (Alpavia) RF-3 Roberto Parola s/n 20 (1964), ex F-BLXF until July 2007
I-TORR Fournier (Sportavia-Pützer) RF-5 Paolo Giovanni Cappellini, Cremona s/n 5026 (1969)
I-BPLQ Fournier (Sportavia-Pützer) RF-4D Eugenio Lanza di Casalanza / AVAG s/n 4136 (1970), ex F-BPLQ

In the picture: Lineup of aircraft participating in the first Italian Fournier meeting at Turin/Aeritalia airport and the badge of Club Fournier International. (Aeromedia)

(Aeromedia, June 2013)