Meridionali

IMAM (Industrie Meccaniche e Aeronautiche Meridionali) was an Italian aircraft manufacturer founded in Naples in 1923 by the engineer Nicola Romeo. In 1955 it merged into Aerfer.

== History == The Industrie Meccaniche e Aeronautiche Meridionali had its origins in the aircraft division of OFM (Officine Ferroviarie Meridionali), an Italian railway and rolling stock manufacturing company owned by Nicola Romeo. Romeo hired Alessandro Tonini, an aeronautical engineer experienced in aerodynamics and airplane design, as OFM's chief designer. OFM contacted Fokker and got production licence for the Fokker C.V. It was built by the Naples factory in 1927 as the OFM Ro.1. thumb|IMAM Ro.37bis On 27 October 1934, Romeo spun off the aircraft business, renamed, as the Società Anonima Industrie Aeronautiche Romeo (IAR). The most successful aircraft produced by IAR was the Ro.37 Lince. The first prototype Ro.37 flew in November 1933. In 1935, OFM (the railway workshop) was sold to Società Italiana Ernesto Breda. Romeo later sold Società Anonima Industrie Aeronautiche Romeo to Società Italiana Ernesto Breda, which later became the Industrie Meccaniche e Aeronautiche Meridionali (IMAM). The new company continued Ro.37 recon biplane, Ro.41 fighter biplane, Ro.51 fighter monoplane (land/seaplane versions) and developed Ro.43/44 seaplanes, Ro.57/58 twin-engined fighters and STOL Ro.63. thumb|300px|An IMAM Ro.43 floatplane aircraft catapult|catapulted by a RM cruiser in the early 1940s