Roy LoPresti

[
thumb|right|The_LoPresti Fury] LeRoy Patrick "Roy" LoPresti (b. June 9, 1929, d. August 7, 2002) was an America aeronautical engineer best known for his work in the general aviation field. He designed the Grumman American AA-5, was Chief Engineer and Vice President of Engineering at Mooney where he designed the Mooney 201's larger cousins, and worked at both Beech Aircraft and Piper Aircraft before starting his own company, "LoPresti Speed Merchants". Speed Merchants currently produces his last design, originally at Piper, the LoPresti Fury. [Cox, Bill. [http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/pilot-talk/x-country-log/the-fury-is-coming.html "The Fury Is Coming"] , "Plane & Pilot". Accessed October 2, 2008.]

Roy LoPresti was born to Agnes LaRusso and Patrick LoPresti in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. He received a degree in aeronautical engineering from New York University in 1950. After graduating he joined Grumman Aerospace on Long Island, New York, but was soon called to serve in the US Air Force during the Korean War. [ [http://www.speedmods.com/obit.htm "Roy LoPresti's Obituary"] , LoPresti Speed Merchants] After the war he returned to work at Wright Field on fighter design, a job he stated was "made in heaven." [http://www.speedmods.com/roybio.htm "Biography of LeRoy LoPresti"] , LoPresti Speed Merchants]

When he returned to Grumman he worked on missile designs, but was later put in charge of design at their recently acquired American Aviation division in Cleveland, Ohio. American Aircraft was the current holder of the Bede BD-1 design rights, after Bede had been forced from the company. The BD-1 had promise, but required numerous fixes that American couldn't afford on their own. LoPresti re-designed the aircraft and produced the famed Grumman American AA-5 and its derivatives. He stayed at Grumman for 16 years, during which time he worked on the Apollo Lunar Module, among other projects.

During the 1970s he moved to Mooney Aircraft where he worked on newer versions of the Mooney 201. Starting with the original "small" 201 design, he stretched it into a newer aircraft able to support larger 6-cylinder designs of higher power. He came up with the marketing plan to improve the 201 so that it would fly at 200 mph on 200 hp on the 200th birthday of America — July 4, 1976. He also led design of the 201's larger cousins, the 231, 252 and 301.

He then moved on to become the Vice President of Engineering at Beech Aircraft in Wichita, Kansas. Here he led development of the famed by failed Beech Starship, which burned through $350 million in development with little to show for it in the end. [ [http://books.google.ca/books?id=20VWAAAAMAAJ&q=Roy+LoPresti&dq=Roy+LoPresti&pgis=1 "Interavia"] , pg. 65] As the Starship program ran down the general aviation market was in a process of rapidly downsizing, and LoPresti became increasingly frustrated as he was put into a series of management positions making missiles and bombs. Expressing his frustration to his wife, Peggy, she advised him to quit.

In 1987 LoPresti took her advice and joined Piper Aircraft in Vero Beach, Florida. Piper's new parent, Romeo Charley, had recently re-started the company from bankrupcy, and was looking for new products. They were contacted by the Swift Museum Foundation, who was looking for someone to produce the Globe Swift with a variety of upgrades that had been incorporated by its users over the years. [ Janet Rose Daly Bednarek and Michael Bednarek, [http://books.google.ca/books?id=x0uLSdn_hFUC&pg=PA131&dq=Roy+LoPresti&sig=ACfU3U1geMznwyTpnDCP4xFeQmJ3wgiApg "Dreams of Flight "] , Texas A&M University Press, 2003, pg. 131] The project was put under LoPriesti's care, and the SwiftFire and SwiftFury designs emerged.S. Clayton Moore, [http://www.airportjournals.com/Display.cfm?varID=0608011 "All in the Family: LoPresti Builds the Perfect Airplane"] , "Airport Journals", August 2006] They showed the prototype at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 1988 and returned with 131 $10,000 deposits.

In spite of this promising start, Piper went bankrupt in 1991, leading to a huge legal squabble over the rights to the designs. LoPresti formed LoPresti Speed Merchants as an upgrade firm, making modifications to existing aircraft to make them fly faster. The company finally gained the rights to what is now called the LoPresti Fury.

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