Alfa Romeo Avio

[6][7] However, after the war ended, having made a prototype of a 600 horsepower (450 kW) V12 engine, the Alfa Romeo aviation business was temporarily suspended.

[6][8][7] At the end of the twenties, Alfa Romeo director, Prospero Gianferrari, decided to diversify the company's business, and invest in the design and construction of aircraft engines in addition to trucks and buses.

[10] The first big result of this change in strategy was the production, in 1932, of the first aircraft engine completely designed, developed and built by the Alfa Romeo, the D2.

[11] The state-owned Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale stepped in to take control and a new managing director, Ugo Gobbato, was appointed.

[16] In the late thirties the political situation in Europe was changing as the winds of war brought many nations, including Italy, into an arms race.

[17] Alfa Romeo's production was directed away from civilian cars towards the assembly of the aircraft engines and trucks that would help Italy in a future armed conflict.

[18] In this context, in 1938, it was decided to build a production plant in Pomigliano d'Arco, near Naples, dedicated to the design and assembly of aircraft engines.

[20] After the outbreak of World War II, plant director Ugo Gobbato (1888–1945) decided to establish a separate division for aircraft products.

[25] One product of this collaboration, an Alfa Romeo 110 powered Ambrosini S.1001 "Grifo" named Angelo dei Bimbi (Children's Angel), had a significant effect on the media.

[6][25] In the fifties Alfa Romeo continued to collaborate with Fiat, producing jet engines, but production remained below pre-war levels.

Although management of the operation returned to Alfa Romeo, activities at Pomigliano d'Arco were limited, reduced to the repair and the construction of combustion engines.

[2] Alfa Romeo license built the Bristol Siddeley Orpheus for the Fiat G.91 programme, one of a number of examples of cooperation between the companies during the decade, and was the European distributor of the General Electric J85 and CJ610 turbojets.

At the same time, politicians keen to see development in southern Italy, supported the creation of the Alfasud factory next to the Alfa Romeo Avio facility, greatly increasing the level of local skills.

In 1979, Alfa Romeo achieved another milestone as it was the first Italian company to design, develop and build a turboprop aircraft engine (the AR.138), which was installed on a Beechcraft King Air.