Caproni Ca.73

__NOTOC__ Infobox Aircraft
name=Ca.73


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type=Airliner, later used as a bomber
manufacturer=Caproni
designer=
first flight=1925
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The Caproni Ca.73 was an Italian airliner produced during the 1920s which went on to serve as a light bomber aircraft in the newly-independent Regia Aeronautica. It was an inverted sesquiplane with a biplane tail and two engines mounted in a push-pull configuration within a common nacelle mounted on struts in the interplane gap above the fuselage. The two pilots sat in an open cockpit, while ten passengers could be accommodated within the fuselage.

The publication of General Giulio Douhet's seminal treatise on strategic bombing "Il dominio dell'aria" ("The Command of the Air") in 1921 had left Italy's military planners acutely aware of a lack of this capability. Established as a separate service in 1923, the Regia Aeronautica relied upon World War I-vintage Caproni Ca.3 bombers, and a replacement was soon sought. The immediate solution was to repurpose the Ca.73 as a warplane by adding a gunner's position in the nose, and dorsally and ventrally amidships. Bombs were carried on external racks on the fuselage sides.

Ca.73s remained in frontline service until 1934, and from 1926 onwards participated in Italy's military actions in North Africa.

Variants

* Ca.73 - airliner powered by Isotta Fraschini Asso 500 engines
** Ca.73"bis" - airliner powered by Lorraine-Dietrich engines
** Ca.73"ter" (later redesignated Ca.82) - bomber version with gun positions and fuselage bomb racks
** Ca.73"quater" (later redesignated Ca.88) - bomber with revised control systems and strengthened airframe
*** Ca.73"quater"G (later redesignated Ca.89) - bomber with glazed nose, underwing bomb racks, and retractable ventral gun turret
** Ca.74 (later redesignated Ca.80) - version powered by Bristol Jupiter engines
* Ca.80 - redesignated Ca.74
** Ca.80S - air-ambulance and paratroop transport version
* Ca.82 - redesignated Ca.73"ter"
* Ca.88 - redesignated Ca.73"quater"
* Ca.89 - redesignated Ca.73"quater"G

Operators

Military Operators

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** Regia Aeronautica

pecifications (Ca.73)

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crew=Two pilots
capacity=10 passengers
length m=15.10
length ft=49
length in=7
span m=25.00
span ft=82
span in=0
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height m=5.60
height ft=18
height in=5
wing area sqm=143.0
wing area sqft=1,539
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aspect ratio=
empty weight kg=3,400
empty weight lb=7,496
gross weight kg=5,390
gross weight lb=11,883
lift kg=
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eng1 number=2
eng1 type=Isotta-Fraschini Asso
eng1 kw= 373
eng1 hp= 500
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max speed kmh=180
max speed mph=112
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endurance h= 3
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ceiling m=4,600
ceiling ft=15,080
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References

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ee also

aircontent

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sequence= ← Ca.70 - Ca.71 - Ca.72 - Ca.73 - Ca.74 - Ca.75 - Ca.76 -
Ca.77 - Ca.78 - Ca.79 - Ca.80 - Ca.81 - Ca.82 - Ca.83 -
Ca.84 - Ca.85 - Ca.86 - Ca.87 - Ca.88 - Ca.89 - Ca.90 -
Ca.91 - Ca.92 →

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