SIAI S.16 | |
---|---|
Francesco de Pinedo's SIAI S.16terGennariello landing on the Brisbane River in Australia in 1925 during his Rome-Australia-Tokyo-Rome flight. | |
Role | Passenger and military flying-boat |
National origin | Italy |
Manufacturer | SIAI |
Designer | Rafaele Conflenti |
First flight | 1919 |
Primary user | Italian Navy |
The SIAI S.16 was an Italian passenger flying boat, later serving as a military reconnaissance-bomber, claimed to be the most successful flying-boat of the 1920s.
The first flying boat designed by the Societa Idrovolanti Alta Italia (SIAI) for use as a civilian passenger carrier, the S.13, was a biplane flying boat with room for five passengers. The S.16 was powered by a single Fiat A.12bis engine. Military versions were also developed with a bow cockpit for an observer-gunner and bomb racks fitted underneath the wings. The military version was sold to Brazil, the Soviet Union, Spain, and Turkey.
In 1925, the Italian aviator Francesco de Pinedo (1890–1933), a tenente colonnello (lieutenant colonel) in the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) used an SIAI S.16ter he named Genariello for a record-setting flight from Rome to Australia and Tokyo in order to demonstrate his idea that seaplanes were superior to landplanes for long-distance flights. On 21 April, Pinedo and his mechanic, Ernesto Campanelli, departed Rome aboard Gennariello. They stopped first at Brindisi in Italy, then at Leros in Greece; Baghdad in Iraq; Bushehr and Chabar in Persia; Karachi, Bombay, Cocanada, and Calcutta in British India; Akyab, Rangoon, Tavoy, and Mergui in Burma; Phuket in Siam; Penang in British Malaya; Singapore; Batavia, Surabaya, Sumbawa, and Kupang in the Netherlands East Indies, and Broome, Carnarvon, Perth, Bunbury, Albany, Israelite Bay, and Adelaide in Australia before reaching Melbourne, where they arrived on 10 June and spent 36 days. [1] [2] [3] On 16 July, Pinedo and Campanelli flew on to Sydney, where they spent another three weeks. Resuming their flight on 6 August, they visited Brisbane, Rockhampton, Townsville, Innisfail, Cooktown, and Thursday Island in Australia; Merauke, Dobo, Amboina, and Menado in the Netherlands East Indies; Cebu, Atimonan, Manila, and Aparri in the Philippines; Tamsui on Formosa; Shanghai in China; Mokpo in Korea; and Yamakawa and Kagoshima in Japan, before arriving in Tokyo on 26 September. [1] [2] [3]
After a three-week stay in Tokyo, Pinedo and Campanelli began their return journey to Rome on 17 October, a 15,000-mile (24,000-km) trip that they made in only 22 days – an impressive speed at the time – with stops at Kagoshima in Japan; Shanghai in China; Hong Kong; Haiphong and Saigon in French Indochina; Bangkok in Siam; Rangoon in Burma; Calcutta, Benares, Delhi, and Karachi in British India; Bandar Abbas in Persia; Baghdad in Iraq; Alexandretta in Turkey; and Taranto in Italy before arriving in Rome on 7 November. The entire journey, made without special preparations for support at any of the stops and involving two long flights – of 600 miles (970 km) and 1,200 miles (1,900 km) – across the dry land of the Indian Subcontinent in a non-amphibious flying boat, had proceeded without major incident and had required only one engine change, carried out at Tokyo. Pinedo and Campanelli had carried a jib sail and boat rudder to allow them to sail their flying boat through unfamiliar harbors in awkward winds, but they never used either the sail or the rudder during their expedition. The aviators had covered about 35,000 miles (56,000 km) in 370 hours of flight time in 80 stages over the course of 202 days, and a 1925 issue of the magazine Flight described their journey as "the most extensive aerial tour on record." [1] [2] [3] The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale gave Pinedo its highest award, the FAI Gold Air Medal, for the flight, the first time it had awarded the medal. [4] The Regia Aeronautica promoted Pinedo to colonnello (colonel) upon his return from the flight, [4] and Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III made him a marchese (marquis). [4]
Data from [5]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Related lists
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1925.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1927:
The Savoia-Marchetti S.55 was a double-hulled flying boat produced in Italy, beginning in 1924. Shortly after its introduction, it began setting records for speed, payload, altitude and range.
SIAI-Marchetti was an Italian aircraft manufacturer primarily active during the interwar period.
The Ansaldo A.300 was an Italian general-purpose biplane aircraft built by the Ansaldo company of Turin from 1920 to 1929. It also served as a light bomber, transport, fighter and reconnaissance aircraft, and finally as an advanced trainer, with examples in service as late as 1940. 50 examples were also license-built in Poland at ZM E. Plage & T. Laśkiewicz, but were not a success due to poor quality.
Francesco de Pinedo was a famous Italian aviator. A Regia Marina officer who transferred to the Regia Aeronautica, he was an advocate of the seaplane and is best known for his long-range flying boat flights in the 1920s that demonstrated the feasibility of global air travel.
The SIAI Savoia S.9 was an Italian reconnaissance flying boat, manufactured by Societa Idrovolanti Alta Italia (S.I.A.I.) from 1918. The wing structure was unusual by being a single-bay biplane wing, with additional struts mounted mid-bay at the junction of the flying and landing wires, so that it appeared to have a two-bay wing. The S.9 was also licence-built in France by CAMS as the CAMS C.9.
The Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 Marsupiale was an Italian passenger and military transport aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. It was a low-wing, trimotor monoplane of mixed metal and wood construction with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It was the last of a line of transport aeroplanes that Alessandro Marchetti began designing in the early 1930s. The SM.75 was fast, robust, capable of long-range flight and could carry up to 24 passengers for 1,000 miles.
The Fiat CR.1 was an Italian biplane fighter aircraft of the 1920s. Of wood-and-fabric construction, it was designed by Celestino Rosatelli, from whom it gained the 'CR' designation. Its most distinctive feature was that the lower wings were longer than the upper ones.
The SIAI S.8 was an Italian 1910s two-seat reconnaissance flying boat.
The Savoia-Marchetti S.59 was a 1920s Italian reconnaissance/bomber flying boat designed and built by Savoia-Marchetti for the Regia Aeronautica.
The Savoia-Marchetti S.57 was an Italian single-engine biplane flying boat intended for aerial reconnaissance, built by Savoia-Marchetti for Regia Aeronautica after World War I.
The SIAI S.13 was an Italian biplane reconnaissance flying-boat from 1919.
The SIAI S.52 was an Italian fighter prototype of 1924.
The Marchetti MVT, later renamed SIAI S.50, was an Italian fighter of 1919 and the early 1920s.
The SIAI S.58 or Savoia-Marchetti S.M.58 was an Italian flying boat fighter prototype of the 1920s designed and manufactured by SIAI.
The Macchi M.26 was an Italian flying boat fighter prototype of 1924 designed and manufactured by Macchi.
Carlo Del Prete was a pioneer aviator from Italy.
The CANT 13 was an amphibious aircraft designed for use on Regia Marina ships in response to a 1925 competition.
Alessandro Tonini was an important Italian aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer of the early 20th century who worked for Gabardini, Macchi, and IMAM.