Caproni_Ca.2 Knowpia

Ca.2 (1915)
Role	Heavy day bomber
National origin	Italy
Manufacturer	Caproni
First flight	Late 1915
Number built	9
Developed from	Caproni Ca.1

The Caproni Ca.2 was an Italian heavy bomber of the World War I era.

Development edit

The Ca.2 was a minor development of the Caproni Ca.1 twin-boom bomber of 1914. It had become evident early in the Ca.1's service life that the design could benefit from more power. Caproni therefore replaced the central, pusher engine of the aircraft with a more powerful one. Caproni referred to this as the Caproni 350 hp at the time, and the Italian Army dubbed it the Ca.2. No separate number seems to have been allocated to it in Caproni's postwar redesignation scheme.

Only nine aircraft were built, supplied to the Italian Army alongside deliveries of Ca.1s between August 1915 and December 1916.

The benefits of increased power encouraged Caproni to continue in this direction, leading to the definitive Caproni Ca.3.

Description edit

The Caproni Ca.2 was a trimotor biplane with an engine mounted on the rear of the central nacelle, and two others mounted on the front of twin booms, which held the tail. It was largely of wooden construction, covered with fabric. The crew of four were in an open central nacelle (front gunner, two pilots and rear gunner-mechanic). The rear gunner manned upper machine guns, standing over the central engine in a protective "cage," just in front of its propeller. It was fitted with tricycle landing gear.

Armament consisted of two to four Revelli 6.5 mm or 7.7 mm machine guns, one on a front ring mount and one, two or sometimes even three on an upper ring mount. Bombs were suspended under the central nacelle.

Operators edit

Kingdom of Italy

Corpo Aeronautico Militare

Specifications (Ca.2) edit

Data from ^{[citation needed]}

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: 3,302 kg (7,280 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 4,000 kg (8,818 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Fiat A.10 six-cylinder, water-cooled, in-line piston aero engine, 75 kW (101 hp) each
Powerplant: 1 × Isotta-Fraschini V.4B six-cylinder, water-cooled, in-line piston aero engine, 112 kW (150 hp)