Partenavia Tornado

P.55 Tornado
Role	High-performance competition monoplane
National origin	Italy
Manufacturer	Partenavia
First flight	1955
Retired	1958
Number built	1

The Partenavia P.55 Tornado is a 1950s Italian high-performance competition and touring monoplane built by Partenavia. The Tornado was a small mid-wing cantilever monoplane with a retractable tricycle landing gear. The aircraft was powered by a nose-mounted Lycoming O-320 piston engine.

The aircraft was commissioned to win the Tour of Sicily (it: Giro di Sicilia), and the Tornado won the race in 1956. Although the aircraft had won the race it was too specialised design to enter production and only one aircraft (registered I-REGJ) was built. I-REGJ was destroyed in a crash on 13 June 1958.

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: 1 (pilot)
• Capacity: 1 (passenger)
• Length: 6.02 m (19 ft 8 in)
• Wingspan: 7.20 m (23 ft 7½ in)
• Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming O-320 piston engine, 112 kW (150 hp)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 348 km/h (216 mph)

References

• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. 
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing. 
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