AERMACCHI Brand History
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.
