Caproni Ca.3

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The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Ca.3 was an [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and the post-war era.

It was the definitive version of the series of aircraft that began with the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Development

The development of the Ca.1 to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] 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, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] engine on that design.

The prototype flew in late [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and was soon put into production. Known to Caproni at the time as the Caproni 450 hp, the Italian Army designated it the Ca.3.
In Caproni's post-war redesignation, it became the Ca.33.

Somewhere between 250 and 300 of these aircraft were built, supplying the Italian Army and Navy (the latter using the type as a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]), and the French Army.

Late in the war, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] built the type under licence in France, building an additional 83 (some sources say only 19) aircraft.

Description

The Ca.3 was a three-engined [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of wooden construction, with a fabric-covered frame.

The crew of four was plaved in an open central nacelle (front gunner, two pilots and rear gunner-mechanic).

The rear gunner manned upper [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], standing upon the central engine in a protective "cage", just in front of a propeller. [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

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

Operational history

The Ca.1 entered service with the Italian Army in the middle of 1915 and first saw action on 20 August 1915, attacking the Austrian air base at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

15 bomber squadrons (1-15 Squadriglia) were eventually equipped with Ca.1, Ca.2, and Ca.3 bombers, mostly bombing targets in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. The 12th squadron operated in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

In 1918, three squadrons (3, 14 and 15) operated in France.

Apart from the Italian Army, Caproni Ca.3s were also used in British squadrons, before the introduction of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] bombers.

Original and licence-built ones were used by France (original Caproni were used in French CAP escadres, licence-built examples in CEP escadres). They were also used by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Some of the Ca.36Ms supplied after the war were still in service long enough to see action in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s first assaults on North Africa.

This plane is also remembered for a tragedy on May 4, 1919, which killed the French General Dr. 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 to Campo Formido 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.

General 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 due to a failure of the air blast 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 craft, either because they mistook the plane's Italian markings for Hungarian markings or that they had done so as part of a conspiracy to see Gen. Stefanik
killed in order to prevent him from putting forth 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.

Ca 36

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Operators

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