Caproni Ca.2

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

Development

The Ca.2 was a minor development of the Caproni Ca.1. 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 post-war 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

Three-engine biplane of a wooden construction, covered with fabric. Crew: 4 in an open central nacelle (front gunner, two pilots and rear gunner-mechanic). The rear gunner manned upper machine guns, standing upon the central engine in a protective "cage", just before a propeller. Tricycle landing gear.

Armament: 2 to 4 Revelli 6.5mm or 7.7mm machine guns: 1 in front ring mounting and 1, 2 or sometimes even 3 in an upper ring mounting. Bombs suspended under the hull.

Operators

* : Corpo Aeronautico Militare

pecifications (Ca.2)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?= plane
jet or prop?= both
ref=
crew= Four (pilot, co-pilot, front gunner, and rear gunner/mechanic)
capacity=
length main= 11.05 m
length alt= 36 ft 3 in
span main= 22.74 m
span alt= 74 ft 7 in
height main= 3.70 m
height alt= 12 ft 2 in
area main= 95.6 m²
area alt= 1,029 ft²
airfoil=
empty weight main= 3,302 kg
empty weight alt= 7,264 lb
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
useful load main=
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main= 4,000 kg
max takeoff weight alt= 8,800 lb
more general=
engine (jet)= Fiat A.10
type of jet=inline engines
number of jets=2
thrust main= 746 kW
thrust alt= 100 hp
thrust original=
afterburning thrust main=
afterburning thrust alt=
engine (prop)= Isotta-Fraschini V.4B
type of prop=
number of props=1
power main= 112 kW
power alt=150 hp
power original=
max speed main= 133 km/h
max speed alt= 72 knots, 83 mph
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
range main=
range alt=
ceiling main=
ceiling alt=
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=
loading alt=
thrust/weight=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=
armament=
* 2 × 6.5 mm FIAT-Revelli machine guns
* Bombs mounted under the hull
avionics=

References

* [http://www.aerei-italiani.net/SchedeT/aereoca2.htm Aerei Italiani] (Italian)

ee also

aircontent
related=
Ca.1 -
Ca.3 -
Ca.5

similar aircraft=

sequence=
Ca.1 -Ca.2 -
Ca.3 -
Ca.4 -
Ca.5

lists=
* List of military aircraft of Entente Powers in WWI
* List of bomber aircraft
see also=
* Push-pull configuration