| Count Gianni Caproni, builder of some fine aircraft, chose for some
reason to build a giant flying boat with no fewer than nine wings and
eight engines. With this, or an even bigger version, he hoped to fly over 100
passengers across the Atlantic. Amidst all the struts and wings, the absence of
any tail surfaces could easily be overlooked. Reportedly making a short hop
without incident, the official first flight was less successful. Rising to about
18m above Lake Maggiore, the Ca.60 suddenly nosed down and dived
into the water. Some said that testing had shown the need for a lot of lead
ballast and that this had shifted in flight. Test pilot Semprini crawled out of
the wreck unscathed. Later a mysterious fire destroyed the remains and ended
the Count's transatlantic dream. FACTS AND FIGURES © The Ca.60 had twice the wing area
of a B-52 bomber. The equal size
wings would have nearly equal
loading, making it longitudinally
unstable. Supposedly differential
use of front and rear ailerons
would have controlled pitch. © The eight Liberty engines were arranged
with three pulling and pushing on the
front wing and three pushing and one
pulling at the back. The centre engines
had four-bladed propellers. © The pilot had an open cockpit, but the passengers in the cabin had more windows glazing than any airliner before or since.
CREW | 8 |
ENGINE | 8 x 400hp Liberty piston engines |
WEIGHTS |
Take-off weight | 24993 kg | 55100 lb |
DIMENSIONS |
Wingspan | 30.00 m | 98 ft 5 in |
Length | 23.47 m | 77 ft 0 in |
Height | 9.24 m | 30 ft 4 in |
PERFORMANCE |
Max. speed | 112 km/h | 70 mph |
Graham Clayton, e-mail, 13.02.2021 06:55 Needs more wings and engines LOL reply | BHH, 26.07.2020 20:12 Like something straight out of Porco Rosso. reply | anastasiya, e-mail, 28.05.2012 20:15 caproni ca 60 is really big for 100 passengers reply | deaftom, e-mail, 28.02.2011 06:49 Since this thing never did more than a hop, claiming a range of "410 miles" is at best disingenuous. Just look at the huge amount of built-in headwind, plus the huge amount of induced drag from all those wings. reply |
| Sullivan, e-mail, 21.01.2011 19:53 Great picture. Love iot reply | ljubomir serbia, 05.06.2009 19:49 for some reasson my favorite aircraft reply | charles, e-mail, 15.05.2009 00:19 Wikipedia states that the range was 410 mi. To cross north atlantic with such a short range would require really short hops. Something like Newfoundland, Baffin Island, Greenland, Iceland, faroe islands. scotland and onto Europe. Rather than a real commercial venture, it seems like it may have been an elaborate investment fraud. reply | Ian, e-mail, 22.04.2009 16:04 That design can only be described as a Total Gangf**k. reply | juan facundo, 14.04.2009 18:38 devo decir que su pagina es muy buena y perfecta ,TIENE MUCHOS AVIONES reply | W. Krouwel, e-mail, 11.12.2008 12:18 Er, yes... I think we must salute test pilot Semprini - to take the controls of such sa monstyer requires great valour...and after all Caproni's work on eminently sensible and original designs, too.. reply |
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