Ause Aut 18 – Wikipedia

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Aut 18, without painting, the first version of the engine coat. Foligno airport, April 5, 1939.

L’ Dusa or 18 He was a single -wing single -wing monomotor hunt developed by the Italian Air Force company Umbrian in the 1930s and remained at the prototype stadium.

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Designed by the engineer Felice Trojani, former collaborator of Umberto Nobile in the arctic flights of the airships Norge and Italy (he was with him among the missing of the “red tent”), starting from 1934 he owes his acronym name derived from the name of the house Manufacturer and by the surname of the designer plus the measure of the wing surface: “Aeronautica Umbra Trojani 18 m²”.

Development [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

In 1934 the engineer Felice Trojani, who since 1932 collaborated with Umberto Nobile in the design and development of airships at the Soviet Dirižablestroj (дирижабабitary) of Dolgoprudnyj, decides to start developing the personal project of a aircraft with innovative characteristics for the period, a Bolly built -in -metal construction hunt, characterized by the retractable landing trolley and the offensive armination integrated into the wings. [2]

After the experience acquired by hunting pilots equipped in the combat missions with the Biplani Fiat C.R.32 during the Spanish civil war, the request for the need to have faster and more modern means available is soon implemented by the leaders of the Air Force Royal. For this purpose, on February 10, 1936, a specific one issued for the supply of an terrestrial interceptor hunting that would respond to a series of characteristics and performance: a maximum speed of 500 km/h, climbed to 6 000 m in 5 minutes, autonomy two hours and offensive armament entrusted to one or two 12.7 mm caliber machine guns [3] Low wing monoplana configuration, the adoption of a retractable landing trolley, and which used the Fiat A.74 radial engine for propulsion.

The hunt was characterized by an entirely metallic structure, covered in duralluminum. He adopted a retractable trolley for rotation inwards, retractable and even retractable tail wheel. Unlike the other Italian hunting of that period adopted two machine guns installed in the seeds, rather than in the fuselage. A single prototype, military serial number M.M.363 was created. Still without painting, the plane made the first flight on April 22, 1939 on Viterbo airport entrusted to the Roccato test driver. He was then transferred to Guidonia airport on July 20, 1939 as part of the comparative tests with the other hunting of the R. Project R. The Aut 18 had in fact been carried out as part of this program for the Riamodernation of the flight line of the Royal Air Force . Then, from 18 August of the same year, followed the shooting tests on the field of Sly. On February 23, 1940, the plane was brought back to Foligno for some changes, in particular a more refined coat of the radial engine. From Foligno he returned to Guidonia on June 21, 1940. One of the military tests, Adriano Mantelli, proposed it for the role of assault plane to replace the Breda 65. According to various commentators and historians including Lanfranco Cesari and according to Felice Trojani himself, The delays in the delivery of the aircraft (the Macchi M.C.200 had completed its first flight already in 1937), the fact that it did not present much higher performances than those of other competitors, but above all due to political choices and unclear political maneuvers, they led to the decision of the Aeronautical Royal (to which the final prototype had been regularly delivered on November 5, 1940) not to follow up on the start of the orders at the A.U.S.A. for series production.

On the fate of the prototype there is no documented news. In Trojani he was reported, in the 1950s, by other German designers who emigrated like him to Brazil, that he had been transferred to Germany, for evaluation flights, after the armistice, [4] But it is more likely to be destroyed during an allied raid, after his transfer to Orvieto by Mantelli on the day of his official delivery to the Air Force Royal. Others believe it was captured by the allies and that they used it to study it. Already in 1936 the Jane’s Yearbook reported the card with photography among Italian planes.

First flight [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

According to the story of the designer Trojani [4] The test went very well:
«On day 21 the 18 began the tits in Foligno. Roccato piloted him, and I had confidence in him: he was not young and a brilliant pilot could not be said; He was very prudent, and he indulged me in my program to gradually and prudence tests, because I was firmly decided not to risk the appliance or the pilot.

The airplane while running up and down the field was beautiful; It seemed like a hawk that would jump to take flight: even with reduced power, even against Roccato’s will, he detached himself from the ground and performed fees. The military pilots of the field were surprised that Roccato possessed a lot of strength to resist the temptation to take off and launch himself into the immense blue. ” [4]

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And after again:

«The AU 18 rolled moving away from us, to the bottom of the field; He turned, showed us his forehead. We saw him advance, and when we heard the rhombus of the engine given to completely force the appliance was already in the air. He passed in front of us, went up, made a large tour: at the bottom of the field it was high, and the sun made him shine like a star.

Take a second lap, he went beyond the field, and began to glide being encountered; He touched earth gently, lost speeds in a small space.

Roccato brought the airplane, rolling, close to us; He stopped it and descended: I hugged it. In the meantime, the commander of the field had come: he congratulated us and invited us for breakfast to the canteen.

I had never witnessed such a regular flight: how much fear for nothing!

I phoned the ministry, phoned in Foligno, I phoned Marta who warned the Muzio who was in Rome: the aut 18 had flown.

We continued the flights, and the fourth authorized Roccato to bring the cart back and the queue: everything worked wonderfully; The increase in speed of the retracted trolley device was impressive ». [4]

Italia Italy
used only for comparative assessments
  1. ^ Cielo dimension, p.47 .
  2. ^ Ascanio Trojani, l’or 18 in www..trojani.it .
  3. ^ Scarlato 2008, P. 5.
  4. ^ a b c d Felice Trojan The tail of Minos , Mursia, Milan 2007.
  • Lanfranco Cesari, AUSA – A factory a story , Foligno, Pro Foligno, 2004.
  • Roberto Gentilli, The Italian hunting aviation 1918-1939 , Volume 2nd: technique, coats of arms, exports, Impruneta, Florence, Ed.A.I. Edizioni Aeronautici Italiana srl, 1982.
  • Felice Trojan The tail of Minos: life of a man, history of a business , VIII edition, Milan, Ugo Mursia Editore, 2007 [1963] .
  • Nico Scarlato, Aermacchi C.202 Folgore , Parma, Delta Editrice, 2008.
  • Emilio Brotzu, Michele Caso, Gherardo Cosolo, Reggiane Re.2002 , Dimension Cielo n.1, pp. 47-50.

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