Spirito Mario Viale

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Spirito Mario Viale (born 7 February 1882 in Turin) was an Italian engineer who did much of his important work in France and the United Kingdom. He helped early aircraft engine development, building 3-, 5-, and 7-cylinder radial engines in a Boulogne-sur-Seine workshop from 1910 until World War I. In 1919 he moved to the United Kingdom to work for Armstrong Siddeley, then returned to Italy in the early 1930s to pursue landscape painting and work with Isotta Fraschini. The rise of fascism brought him back to England, where he became chief designer of Rolls-Royce's armaments division. He was described by W. A. Robotham as a brilliant mathematician and designer, though his appearance sometimes led people to joke he looked like a spy. After those projects ended, he returned to aero engine work with Rolls-Royce until his retirement in 1947.