Breda BZ.308

Le quadrimoteur Breda BZ.308 vu sur Wikipedia.en

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Breda-Zappata B.Z.308 was an [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] four-engined airliner produced by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].


Design and development


The aircraft designer [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] developed a four-engined civil transport for operation over both European and transatlantic routes.

Construction of the Breda-Zappata B.Z.308 was started during [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] at Breda's Sesto San Giovanni works.

The allied control commission halted the work, which was not resumed until January [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Further delays in the delivery of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] engines delayed the first flight, which was on the 27th August [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], piloted by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The B.Z.308 was a large low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction, the fuselage had an oval cross-section.

It had a large tailplane with endplate fins and rudders, retractable landing gear.

Powered by four [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] radial engines driving five-bladded propellers.

It was designed for a flightcrew of five, and 55 passengers in two cabins, a high-density model was planned with seats for 80.

Although flight testing went well, financial problems and the realisation that competition from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-built airliners would take a major share of the post-war airliner market,
along with the pressures to close down the Aeronautical section of the Breda industries as requested by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], led to the project being abandoned.

Breda stopped producing airplanes subsequently.

Operational history

The prototype B.Z.308 was acquired by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] as a transport aircraft.

Despite orders in 1950 from India, Argentina and Persia, only the prototype was built, allegedly also due to pressure from the allies for Italy to refrain from competing in civilian aircraft manufacture after the war.

On the 27th August 1948 the Bz 308 made its maiden flight, in front of civil and military authorities, politicians and the Italian President.

The prototype, which passed to the Italian Air Force in 1950 and was used to fly between Rome and Mogadishu until one day, following damage during a poor landing, it was abandoned in a field in Somalia before being broken up in 1954.

It was also the first Italian transatlantic aircraft, and the first aircraft to fly into the new [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] airport in 1948.

The aircraft is also clearly visible in the airport scene of the film [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].