The Isotta Fraschini Beta is an engine conceived in the early 1940s for light aircraft, as well as advanced trainers with aerobatic capabilities, such as the Nardi FN.316. It belongs to a family of Isotta Fraschini engines introduced in the 1930s and characterized by a particular construction scheme with inverted air-cooled cylinders. The Beta was developed directly from the larger 12-cylinder Gamma and Delta models. Respect them it represented the smallest version, with only 6 cylinders, proposed for the market category of engines up to 300 HP, which was poorly manned by competitors at the time. In particular, the engine shares many components with the larger Gamma model, including cylinders, aluminum heads and pistons and some parts of the valve timing system. The engine is equipped with propeller speed reducer and supercharging system to increase performance at altitude. The latter was similar to that of Mercedes engines, with a turbocharger located in the rear left side of the engine, in order to reduce the length of the pressurized air supply duct. These were entirely designed and built by Isotta Fraschini. The engine was produced in the first half of the 1940s, but did not have much diffusion, due to some technical problems deriving from a quick development and to the consequences of the Second World War. At the end of 1948, Isotta Fraschini, already in financial difficulties, ended the production of aeronautical engines. For these reasons, the overall production of all Beta engine was limited to a small number of units and those left to date are quite rare.