Caproni Ca.3

Last updated
Ca.3
Caproni Ca36 050309-F-1234P-003.jpg
Caproni Ca.36 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force
RoleHeavy bomber
National origin Italy
Manufacturer Caproni
First flight 1916
Primary users Regia Aeronautica
Corpo Aeronautico Militare

The Caproni Ca.3 is an Italian heavy bomber of World War I and the postwar era. It was the most produced version of the series of aircraft that began with the 1914 Caproni Ca.1 and continued until the more powerful 1917 Caproni Ca.5 variant.

Contents

Development

Caproni Ca.33, c. 1920s Caproni Ca.33.jpg
Caproni Ca.33, c. 1920s

The development of the Ca.1 to the Ca.2 suggested the benefits of increasing amounts of power to the very sound airframe. The Ca.3 was a development of Ca.2, by replacing the two engines mounted on the booms with the same Isotta-Fraschini engine that had been used as the central, pusher engine on that design. The prototype flew in late 1916 and was soon put into production. Known by Caproni at the time as the Caproni 450 hp, the Italian Army designated it the Ca.3. In Caproni's postwar renaming, it became the Ca.33. Between 250 and 300 of these aircraft were built, supplying the Italian Army and Navy (the latter using the type as a torpedo bomber), and the French Army. Late in the war, Robert Esnault-Pelterie licence-built an additional 83 (some sources say only 19) aircraft in France.

Note: there is some variation in published sources over early Caproni names. The confusion stems, in part, from three schemes used to label the aircraft – Caproni's in-house designations of the time, those used by the Italian Army and names created after the war by Caproni for past designs.[ citation needed ]

Design

The Ca.3 was a three-engined biplane of wooden construction, with a fabric-covered frame. The crew of four were placed in an open central nacelle (front gunner, two pilots and rear gunner-mechanic). The rear gunner manned upper machine guns, standing upon the central engine in a protective "cage" in front of a propeller. The fixed conventional undercarriage had double mainwheels under each engine and a tailskid under the extreme tail of each boom. A substantial double nosewheel prevented damaging and dangerous nose-overs.

Armament consisted of two to four Revelli 6.5 mm or 7.7 mm machine guns, one in a front ring mount and one, two or sometimes even three in an upper ring mount. Bombs were suspended under the hull.

Operational history

Nose of the Caproni Ca.33 at Vojenske Historicke Muzeum, Piestany, Slovakia, 2007 Caproni Ca-33 VHM Piestany.jpg
Nose of the Caproni Ca.33 at Vojenské Historické Múzeum, Piešťany, Slovakia, 2007

The Ca.1 entered service with the Italian Army in the middle of 1915 and first saw action on 20 August, attacking the Austrian air base at Aisovizza. Fifteen bomber squadrons (1°–15° Squadriglia) were eventually equipped with Ca.1, Ca.2 and Ca.3 bombers, mostly bombing targets in Austro-Hungary. The 12° Squadriglie operated in Libya. In 1918, the 3°, 14° and 15° Squadriglia operated in France.

Apart from the Italian Army, original and licence-built examples were used by France (original Capronis were used in French CAP escadres, licence-built examples in CEP escadres). They were also used by the American Expeditionary Force. There has been some confusion regarding the use of the Ca3 by the British Royal Naval Air Service. The RNAS received six of the larger triplane Ca4s and did not operate the Ca3. [1] The British Ca4s were not used operationally and were returned to Italy after the war. Some of the Ca.36Ms supplied after the war were still in service long enough to see action in Benito Mussolini's first assaults on North Africa.

Variants

All of the following names were applied after the war. At the time, all were known as the 300 hp by Caproni and the Ca.3 by the Army.

Operators

Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina

Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg  Kingdom of Italy

Flag of France.svg  France

Flag of the United States (1912-1959).svg  USA

Surviving aircraft and replicas

Ca.36 at the Italian Air Force Museum Caproni CA.3 2009-06-06.jpg
Ca.36 at the Italian Air Force Museum

Italy

Slovakia

United States

Specifications (Ca.36)

Data from[ citation needed ]

General characteristics

Performance

Armament
2 × 6.5 mm or 7.7 mm FIAT-Revelli machine guns

See also

Related development

Related lists

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.4</span> Italian heavy bomber of World War I

The Caproni Ca.4 was an Italian heavy bomber of the World War I era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.1 (1914)</span> World War One era Italian bomber

The Caproni Ca.1 was an Italian heavy bomber of the World War I era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.2</span> Type of aircraft

The Caproni Ca.2 was an Italian heavy bomber of the World War I era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.5</span> Italian heavy bomber of World War I

The Caproni Ca.5 was an Italian heavy bomber of World War I and the postwar era. It was the final version of the series of aircraft that began with the Caproni Ca.1 in 1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CANT Z.1007 Alcione</span> Italian medium bomber

The CANT Z.1007 Alcione (Kingfisher) was an Italian three-engined medium bomber, with wooden structure. It was designed by Filippo Zappata, who also designed the CANT Z.506 and had "excellent flying characteristics and good stability". It was regarded by some as "the best Italian bomber of World War II" although its wooden structure was easily damaged by the climate, as experienced in North Africa and in Russia. It was used by the Italian Regia Aeronautica, Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana and Luftwaffe during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breda Ba.65</span> Italian ground-attack aircraft in World War II

The Breda Ba.65 was an Italian all-metal single-engine, low-wing monoplane that was used by Aviazione Legionaria during the Spanish Civil War and Regia Aeronautica in the first half of World War II. It was the only Italian ground-attack aircraft that saw active service in this role. It saw service almost exclusively in the North African and Middle-Eastern theatre. In addition to more than 150 aircraft operated by the Italian forces, a total of 55 were exported and used by the air forces of Iraq, Chile and Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.133</span> Type of aircraft

The Caproni Ca.133 was a three-engined transport/bomber aircraft used by the Italian Regia Aeronautica from the Second Italo-Abyssinian War until World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.314</span> Italian attack/torpedo bomber

The Caproni Ca.314 was an Italian twin-engine attack/torpedo bomber aircraft, used in World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.135</span> Type of aircraft

The Caproni Ca.135 was an Italian medium bomber designed in Bergamo in Italy by Cesare Pallavicino. It flew for the first time in 1935, and entered service with the Peruvian Air Force in 1937, and with the Regia Aeronautica in January 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.111</span> Type of aircraft

The Caproni Ca.111 was a long-range reconnaissance aircraft and light bomber produced in Italy during the 1930s. It was a derivative of the Ca.101.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breda Ba.201</span> Italian dive bomber prototype

The Breda Ba.201 was an Italian dive bomber designed during World War II, that never entered production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.313</span> Reconnaissance bomber developed by Caproni in Italy prior to World War II

The Caproni Ca.313 was an Italian twin-engine reconnaissance bomber of the late-1930s. It was a development of the Ca.310. Its variants were exported to several other countries.

The Piaggio P.32 was an Italian medium bomber of the late 1930s, produced by Piaggio, and designed by Giovanni Pegna. It was a modern design for its time, but was a failure due to lack of powerplants commensurate with its high wing loading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.73</span> Type of aircraft

The Caproni Ca.73 was an inverted sesquiplane aircraft designed produced by the Italian aircraft manufacturer Caproni.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corpo Aeronautico Militare</span> Military unit

The Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare was formed as part of the Regio Esercito on 7 January 1915, incorporating the Aviators Flights Battalion (airplanes), the Specialists Battalion (airships) and the Ballonists Battalion. Prior to World War I, Italy had pioneered military aviation in the Italo-Turkish War during 1911–1912. Its army also contained one of the world's foremost theorists about the future of military aviation, Giulio Douhet; Douhet also had a practical side, as he was largely responsible for the development of Italy's Caproni bombers starting in 1913. Italy also had the advantage of a delayed entry into World War I, not starting the fight until 24 May 1915, but took no advantage of it so far as aviation was concerned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.355</span> Italian WWII dive bomber

The Caproni Ca.355 Tuffo was a low-wing single-engine dive bomber, designed and built by the Italian Caproni company in 1941, which never proceeded beyond a single prototype. Derived from Ca.335 Mistral, the Ca.355 was proposed to equip the Regia Aeronautica, but it was found to offer little advantage over the German Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" and the project was abandoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.331</span> Italian light bomber/night fighter prototype

The Caproni Ca.331 Raffica was an Italian aircraft built by Caproni in the early 1940s as a tactical reconnaissance aircraft/light bomber and also as a night fighter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caproni Ca.124</span> Type of aircraft

The Caproni Ca.124 was a 1930s single-engine Italian reconnaissance and bomber seaplane.

The Caproni Ca.350 was an Italian single-engined project for a two-seat fighter-bomber/reconnaissance aircraft of the 1930s. Designed by Cesare Pallavicino to meet a requirement of the Regia Aeronautica, it was an innovative and fast design, to have been powered by an Isotta Fraschini Zeta R.C.42, but no aircraft were built.

The Caproni Ca.61 was an Italian heavy day bomber aircraft of 1922. It was the final development of the Caproni three engine, twin boom biplane types developed during World War I, but it was not put into production.

References

  1. Kenneth Munson writing in Bombers 1914–19, Blandford 1968
  2. "Caproni Ca.36". Ministero Della Difesa. Archived from the original on 26 March 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  3. "Caproni Ca.33Z (1914)". Fondazione Jonathan Collection. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  4. "Caproni Ca.3". Warbirds News. 10 February 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  5. "Caproni Ca. 36". National Museum of the US Air Force. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2016.