History of the Marque: Aermacchi

AERONAUTICA MACCHI was founded in 1913 as "Societa Anonima Nieuport-Macchi" for the manufacture of seaplanes, later on changing their name into Aermacchi. During the First World War the company grew but continued to concentrate on aircraft. During the Second World War, Aermacchi built the finest of all fighters used by the Italian air forces. Anticipating the motorcycle boom and intending to take advantage of it, Aermacchi's chief looked for an established designer who could produce an attractive lightweight. And they chose Lino Tonti, who had been working for Benelli. 

All the bikes produced by Aermacchi, "Ala Verde", "Ala Blu" and "Ala d'Oro", were successful. The first Aermacchi motorcycle was designed in 1950. It was an open-frame lightweight with a 125 cc two-stroke engine. This machine was very popular and a sports version of it, which had the frame “closed” by a real tank, was used in trials, including the International Six Days of 1951 and 1952.

The 250 cc twin, produced in 1953-1954, was rather unsuccessful. In 1955 there was designed a machine powered by double engines of 48 cc and 75 cc capacity,  one of the first examples of a “flying cigar”, being very low and almost 10 ft. long. After the successful record of the cigar, Lino Tonti joined FB Mondial, his successor being Alfredo Bianchi, who previously worked with Alfa Romeo and Parilla. He was guilty of having designed the OHC 250 cc Parilla sports and racing models.

He had also manufactured his own Astoria engines and complete machines, the single-ohc and two-stroke power-units, 125 cc and 175 cc. After that, Aermacchi continued its adventure, so the Chimera 175cc and 250cc were introduced and in 1957, a model with 16 horses was available for races.

Soon, the number of horses on the 175cc model increased to 20, the new machine making its debut in 1960. Because it was a success, the company released a 250cc version, called the Golden Wing, which produced 22bhp at 8000rpm. The international success of this model determined Harley Davidson to make an arrangement with the Italian company, both of them having huge benefits.

In 1962, the power of the well known 250cc model increased to 28 horses and three years later, it was of 30 horses at 10000rpm. Not bad for a push-rod production racer, as everybody said. Year after year, new models were released. In 1963 there was a 293cc road racer, then one year later it changed to a real 350cc with 33bhp at 8000rpm. Unfortunately, the story goes on till 1978 when Aermacchi is completely sold to Cagiva.