At the beginning of 1932, the Italian company SA Industrie Meccaniche e Aeronautiche Meridurali (IMAM) manufactured the Ro.26 biplane, a basic trainer aircraft based on a design by aeronautical engineer Giovanni Galasso.[1] It was powered by a seven-cylinder, 215adj=onNaNadj=on Armstrong Siddeley Lynx radial engine, built under licence by Alfa Romeo as the Lince.[1] IMAM intended to market the new aircraft for basic pilot training and use in aerobatic competitions.[1] The Ro.26′s design also allowed it to serve as a trainer for seaplane pilots by converting into a floatplane as the Ro.26I — or Ro.26 Idro ("Hydro") — with the landing gear replaced by floats. The prototype, registered as I-ABIL, flew for the first time in 1932.[1]
The Ro.26 was a biplane trainer aircraft with equal-span wings with a slight upward cant.[2] The wings and tail section were of all-wooden construction and covered with canvas. The fuselage was of all-metal construction, built with autogenously welded steel tubes.[2]
The aircraft had fixed, wide-track rear tricycle landing gear with oil-elastic shock absorbers. A pair of floats could replace the landing gear in order to transform the aircraft into a floatplane.[2] The open cockpits were arranged in tandem, with the instructor placed in the first cockpit, accessible from a door positioned on the right side of the fuselage. The pilot in the forward cockpit could engage and disengage the flight controls in flight at will.[2]
The Alfa Romeo Lynx seven-cylinder, air-cooled engine was rated at 215hp and drove a helical wooden two-bladed propeller that was 2.18m (07.15feet) in diameter.[2]
At the beginning of 1934 the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) tested the Ro.26 prototype I-ABIL.[1] Although the aircraft displayed good flight characteristics, the military authorities decided not to buy it.[1] IMAM abandoned plans for series production and built no additional examples.[1]
