https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.3_(1916)
The Caproni Ca.3 was an Italian heavy bomber of World War I and the postwar era.
It was the definitive version of the series of aircraft that began with the
Caproni Ca.1 in 1914.
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 noseovers.
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.
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
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.
Role
Heavy bomber
Manufacturer
Caproni
First flight
1916
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
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. 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.
This plane is also remembered for a tragedy on 4 May 1919, which killed the
French General Milan Rastislav Stefanik, who was the minister of war in the
Czechoslovak Republic at the time. The accident occurred at the conclusion of a
flight from Campoformido near Udine to Bratislava (capital of Slovakia). On his
initial approach, the pilot determined that the ground was too wet to land on,
so he increased power to the engines and began to aim the plane to a landing
patch further afield which appeared to be dry. While doing so, one of the
engines exploded, causing the aircraft to nosedive. Stefanik and the three
Italian crew members were pronounced dead at the scene. A subsequent
investigation determined that the most likely cause of engine failure was a
failure of the airblast cooling of the engine, probably induced by the increased
strain cause by the pilot's sudden demands on the engine after the aborted
landing. There were allegations that a Czech anti-aircraft artillery company had
fired on the aircraft, either because they mistook the Italian for Hungarian
markings or that they had done so as part of a conspiracy to kill Stefanik, to
prevent him from instigating proposed changes in the Czech government. These
allegations were never proven and the failure of the engine's blast cooling is
widely accepted as the best explanation for the accident.
Variants
Ca.34 and Ca.35 with a modified central nacelle to seat the two pilots in tandem
and therefore improve aerodynamics. No production.
Ca.36 with removable outer wing panels for ease of storage. Ca.36M or Ca.36 mod
production after the war. 153 were delivered between 1923 and 1927, 144 of them
to the new Regia Aeronautica.
Specifications (Ca.36)
General characteristics
Crew: four (pilot, co-pilot, front gunner, and rear gunner/mechanic)
Length: 11.05 m (36 ft 3 in)
Wingspan: 22.74 m (74 ft 7 in)
Height: 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 95.6 m2 (1,029 sq ft)
Empty weight: 2,300 kg (5,071 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 3,800 kg (8,378 lb)
engines, 112 kW (150 hp) each
Performance
Maximum speed: 137 km/h (85 mph; 74 kn)
Range: 599 km (372 mi; 323 nmi)
Service ceiling: 4,844 m (15,892 ft)
Rate of climb: 2.083 m/s (410.0 ft/min)
Armament
800 kg (1,764 lb)) of bombs
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