LoPresti Gears Up For Fury Production

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Movie pilot Corkey Fornof is used to making others look good, so he doesn’t mind a bit that his latest ride, the Lopresti Fury, is hogging the spotlight. You may not know Corkey by name, but it’s likely you’ve seen his work, including the scene in the James Bond movie Licensed to Kill, in which a BD5J drops out of the back of a moving truck and takes off on a road, eventually flying knife-edge through closing hangar doors. Fornof says the Fury is as much fun as any airplane he’s flown, and all those associated with the project are looking forward to getting it on the market. With a 240 hp engine, the Fury will top out at 278 mph and stall at 54 mph and is fully aerobatic.

The aircraft was conceived by Roy Lopresti, known for speed modification kits produced for various aircraft. Although its origins can be traced to the Globe Swift, the prototype now serving as a show aircraft is actually three feet longer than a Swift and essentially a clean-sheet design. “About the only thing that would fit on a Swift is the landing gear,” Fournof said. There are some modern twists that set the airplane apart not only from the heritage aircraft but from modern planes, too. Although many in the industry dismissed the idea of using an Apple iPod as part of the avionics, Fournof said it continues to prove itself. The aircraft also has a wing-mounted camera with a cockpit display to make taxiing the taildragger easier.

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