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Birth:          19 Apr 1931 Chicago, Ill.
Death:          11 May 2020 Savoy, Ill.

Notes
!PUBL
Howard Fam Tree on ancestry
Probably the Rudy Frasca who founded Frasca International, www.frasca.com, 
developers and manufacturers of flight simulators
It's him: http://www.news-gazette.com/living/2015-07-05/getting-personal-rudy-
frasca.html
eight children
Bdate from Wings over Illinois by Gene Abbey on google books
well known in the aviation world, has earned awards and honors
1940 in Melrose Park, Cook Co., Ill.
https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/rudy-frasca-passes/
Flight simulator inventor Rudy Frasca passed away on May 11 of natural causes. He 
was 89. Frasca’s name was familiar to generations of students who were trained and 
tested on flight simulators built by the company he founded in 1958. He is survived by 
his wife, Lucille, “who was always his strongest supporter,” as well as his eight 
children and 18 grandchildren.


According to his company, “Rudy left the Navy [after the Korean War] to attend the 
University of Illinois, where he did research in Aviation Psychology and honed his 
interest in the field of flight simulation. The more he worked with that early generation 
of pilot training devices, the more he realized that there had to be a better way. In 
1958, putting together everything he had learned in the Navy and the University, Rudy 
built his first flight simulator at home in his garage and Frasca Aviation was founded.”

An avid pilot, Frasca collected several aircraft, including a P-40, a Spitfire, a Wildcat, 
an SNJ, a T-34, a Fiat and a Zero replica. “He loved all airplanes but had a special 
place in his heart for his Piper Cub,” the company reminds us. “His love of grassroots 
aviation and passion for flying fueled the growth and success of his simulation 
company. In his flying days, Rudy was active in many aviation organizations and has 
loaned several of his aircraft to the EAA museum so that the general public can enjoy 
them.”

Frasca International is now a thriving company, offering fixed and full-motion 
simulators for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Here are some of Frasca’s products 
over the years:

https://www.news-gazette.com/news/a-life-remembered-he-really-did-change-the-
industry/article_a5d7f94b-074e-5088-84ff-13b42a6d963a.html

URBANA — The founder of Frasca International is being remembered as a titan of the 
flight simulator industry who lived a full life.

Rudy Frasca died Monday in Savoy at the age of 89.

Mr. Frasca’s influence could be felt across the world, family friend Jim Barham said.

“Any time I meet a pilot during a layover delay ... they always mention Frasca. Every 
single time,” Barham said, because “they have had some experience on a Frasca 
trainer. He really did change the industry.”

Mr. Frasca started learning to fly when he was 14, became an instructor in the Navy, 
then attended the University of Illinois, where he researched aviation psychology and 
maintained simulators at the UI’s Aviation Research Lab.

He built his own flight simulator in his garage and in 1958, founded Frasca Aviation, 
which was later renamed to Frasca International.

It was located on the southeast corner of Neil and Green streets in Champaign until 
1990, when the factory moved to Frasca Field in north Urbana.

“Rudy really changed the simulator industry and did it right here,” Barham said. “It’s 
still one of the world leaders.”

The company, now more than 60 years old, sells simulators around the world — to 
aviation schools, commercial airlines and the Navy.

Mr. Frasca served as the grand marshal in the 2015 Champaign County Freedom 
Celebration Parade and was named the V. Dale Cozad Entrepreneur of the Year in 
2013.

“He and his wife Lucille, who was as much a part of the company as he was, built 
Frasca International into what it is today, along with his children,” said Urbana 
attorney Dick Thies, who kept an airplane at Frasca Field and represented Mr. Frasca 
from time to time.

Mr. Frasca had eight children, many of whom are still involved in the company.

“It was a typical Italian family. Everything was family oriented,” Barham said. “His 
family was everything to him.”

Barham said Mr. Frasca could be stern — “He used to scare me if we did something 
wrong” — but he also had a sense of humor.

“He was a jokester, and I’d fall for it every time,” Barham said. “He’d see me in the 
parking lot, he’d say, ‘I made the front page of the Wall Street Journal.’ But it was the 
mailing tag.”

Mr. Frasca also organized fly-ins, collected antique planes and wrote a book about his 
love of aviation called “From Cubs to Spitfires.”

“He flew probably every day of life until he wasn’t able to,” Barham said.

“He loved to fly,” Thies said. “He was just a wonderful person.”

Photo in file legend: The Frasca family includes: front row, Rudy Frasca and wife 
Lucille; middle row, son Bob Frasca, left, and daughter Liz Berry, far right; back row, 
from left, son David Frasca, grandson Nic Hansen, son Tom Frasca, son-in-law Gene 
Johnson, daughter Mary Johnson, grandson Eric Johnson, daughter Petty Prichard, 
son-in-law Joel Prichard and son John Frasca.

Parents
FRASCA Anthony J. (25 Apr 1896 - Nov 1977)
MARGIO Jenny (15 Jul 1904 - Oct 1974)

Siblings
FRASCA Peter Joseph (3 Oct 1923 - 23 Oct 2007)
FRASCA Mary ()
FRASCA Frances (10 Feb 1926 - 19 Apr 2011)
FRASCA Arthur Angelo (20 Sep 1927 - 14 May 1931)
FRASCA Rudolph (19 Apr 1931 - 11 May 2020)
FRASCA Rosanna ()

Marriage To ----- Lucille A. ()

Notes


Children by ----- Lucille A.
FRASCA Mary ()
FRASCA Tom ()
FRASCA Joseph Peter (21 Jun 1957 - 28 Oct 1991)
FRASCA John ()
FRASCA Bob M. ()
FRASCA Margaret A. (Peggy) ()
FRASCA Elizabeth (Liz) ()
FRASCA David ()

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