Italian Bombers and Transport Aircraft

[gekho]

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 (Italian Royal Air Force) in January 1938. Production of the aircraft was initially 32 aircraft, of which eight were Ca.135Ss, some were converted into the Ca.135Mod. The first Ca.135Bis were built in 1938. They were fitted with 746 kW (1,000 hp) Piaggio P.XI RC.40 engines, with Piaggio P.1001 three-blade metal propellers. Length was 17.7 m (58.1 ft), wingspan 18.8 m (61.7 ft), and wing surface 60 m² (646 ft²). Armament was still only two 12.7 mm (0.5 in) guns and one 7.7 mm (0.303 in), but the nose was redesigned to be more aerodynamic. Another 32 aircraft were ordered and built between 1939 and June 1940.

They were not successful aircraft, being heavily criticized by the Italian pilots. Unable to be used operationally, they were sent to flying schools, and then exported to Hungary. The first batch of Ca.135s flown by 11 Wing were phased out by late 1938. 25 were still available at Jesi airfield, but only four were airworthy. The others were probably in maintenance for engine replacement. There were at least 15 Ca.135Ss and Ca.135Mods at the Malpensa flying school in 1940, the poor condition of these aircraft meant that they were scrapped in November 1941. With the scrapping of the first batch and the selling of the second, all 64 Ca.135s left the service of the Regia Aeronautica without performing a single operational mission.

 

[gekho]

In 1938 a small number of an improved version of the Ca 133 was introduced under the designation Ca 148, serving initially in East Africa, and some survived to fly with the post-war Italian air force. The Ca 148 differed from the earlier aircraft by having the cockpit moved forward by approximately 3 ft (0.91 m), the main cabin door relocated from its original position below the port wing to a point behind the trailing edge, and strengthened landing gear. Exact figures are not known, but its thought around 419 Ca 133s were built with an other 106 Ca 148s being produced as well.

Find more information about this aircraft here:

The Incredible Journey of the Caproni CA148 I-ETIO | Comando Supremo

 

[Alexfly]

Nice work. Unfortunatel you are missing the SM75 that with the SM82 where the most used transport planes during the war. They were part of SAS ( Servizi Aerei Speciali) on which a nice story could be written. Pls let me know if you need some pics.
Regards

 

[Alexfly]

Nice work. Unfortunatel you are missing the SM75 that with the SM82 where the most used transport planes during the war. They were part of SAS ( Servizi Aerei Speciali) on which a nice story could be written. Pls let me know if you need some pics.
Regards

 

[gekho]

Deleted

 

[johnbr]

Piaggio P.108B,posters

 

[johnbr]

 

[johnbr]

P-108 guns

 

[johnbr]

The launch armament was made up of two Breda "Z2" turrets placed on the side engines with two 12.7 caliber weapons controlled remotely by special firing units, two hand-pivoted 7.7 side arms and a turret Retractable Breda type «G» with a 12.7 weapon. The Z2 towers each had an independent hydraulic system; the engine moved the control lever of a distributor into the firing unit, causing pressurized oil to flow into the servo-motor which moved the control unit in the desired direction. The movements of the aiming station were transmitted by means of a rigid mechanical transmission to the distributor of the servomotor of the turret, which thus moved in perfect synchronism with the central unit. Each tower had 600 shots. The lower machine gun mounted on Breda turret type G, concealable, hydraulically controlled both in tilting and in elevation, was fixed on a ring placed in the belly of the fuselage. The up and down maneuver was driven by two hydraulic jacks. The weapon had 450 hits. The two side 7,7 were mounted on a gimbal suspension. The shooting sectors were 70 ° of tilting with variable elevation from 0 ° to 25 ° or to 35 °. They had 400 shots each. The concealment was obtained by means of two roller shutters made of dural and plexiglass strips through which the machine gunner could control what was happening externally and then go into action at the right time.

 

[johnbr]

 

[Wurger]