Caproni ca.8 – Wikipedia

The Kroni ca.8 It was the eighth airplane designed and built by the pioneer of the aviation from Trentino Gianni Caproni and the first single -length one of the series of Caproni aircraft. It was in fact the first single -designed single -seater and built in Italy, ^[3] After the Biplani series (from Ca.1 to Ca.7) that Caproni had experienced between 1910 and the first half of 1911. Strongly influenced by the characteristics of the lucky Blériot XI with which in 1909 Louis Blériot had completed the first transport of the channel of the sleeve, Ca.8 made his first flight to Vizzola Ticino on June 13, 1911. ^[first]

Gianni Caproni had launched the experiments of his first biplani aircraft in the late spring of 1910, in the Malpensa Cascina della Cascina area, where an improvised hangar had been erected that also performed the functions of a workshop. ^[4] However, after the flights of the first three airplanes (Ca.1, Ca.2 and Ca.3), the weapon of the genius who had the owner of those land decided to build military workshops, and Caproni was forced to seek a new location for its activities. ^[5]

In the meantime, in the early months of 1911, coming into contact with the engineer from Bergamo Agostino De Agostini and agreeing to collaborate with him at the foundation of an entirely Italian aeronautical company (called the ab. De Agostini & Caproni Aviation), Caproni managed to collect The capital that was needed to continue his experiments and grow their scale. ^[6] The problem of the place to establish the new workshop, with annexed Hangar and Flight Camp, was instead resolved thanks to the collaboration of the Renate Gherardo Baragiola pilot: he, who owned a French Blériot XI single -side, to house and fly it had already built a small one Hangar (10 × 12 m) and predisposed a clearing, suitable for acting as a take -off and landing track, in Vizzola Ticino. Caproni managed without difficulty agreeing with Baragiola for the sharing of these structures, and the two later entered friendships. ^[7]

Even the latest caproni biplani of the series that started with Ca.1 flew to Vizzola Ticino; However, starting from the mid -1911, Caproni concentrated exclusively on the monoplani (mono and two -seater) ^[first] And the planes of this type were the most characteristic of the period spent in Vizzola Ticino.

The choice of Caproni (and other designers of his contemporaries) to orient himself towards monoplane -type airplanes was influenced to a considerable extent by the success of the Blériot XI with which, on July 19, 1909, the French Louis Blériot had made the first transport of the sleeve. ^{[first] [8]} The monoplana configuration guaranteed best aerodynamics and greater constructive simplicity than the biplana. ^[8] The Caproni ca.8 (so designated in the nomenclature adopted by the Caproni a posteriori, in the 1920s, and known to contemporaries as cars monoplane 25 HP or, for brevity, as 1 cm) ^{[first] [8]} It was, as has been said, the first of the Monoplani series.

It was a light, single-seater, monomotor aircraft, equipped with a wing in medium-high position and with surge in the queue. The fuselage consisted of a wooden trellis, reinforced by tie rows in metal cable and with metal joints in turn; Its anterior part, between the engine and the exit edge of the wing, was covered with canvas, while the rest was discovered. The wing, equipped with an appreciable corner of dihedral, had in turn a wooden structure with canvas coating; It was deprived of alettoni, and the control of the roll depended on an wing discretion system; The deformation of the wing ends to ensure the deferralization was made by some tie rods which, as well as the value cables that reinforced the wing itself, were fixed at the top of a pyramidal structure located in the disoprae and in front of the piloting place, discovered.

The surge were formed by a horizontal plane arranged under the fuselage and by a vertical plane entirely mobile inceternated at the rear end of the fuselage itself. The landing trolley was composed of a torque of rays placed under the front of the plane, the support structure of which were also bound by two wooden skates with an anti-capitted function, and by a tail skate placed between The exit edge of the wing and the entrance edge of the horizontal tail plane.

The Motopropulsore group consisted of a 3 -cylinder Anazani engine with 25 ^[8] / 28 ^[9] CV and by a bipola with a fixed -paced wooden, placed at the head of the plane in a position between

Caproni Ca.8 made his first flight on June 13, 1911. He then performed a series of test flights and some public performances; The latter, carried out for the benefit of spectators from Vizzola Ticino and the surroundings, were highly appreciated by the public and soon became a regular appointment, which translated into a series of elegant worldly occasions. ^[ten]

Subsequently, the approx. 8 successfully held the role of training plane; The piloting school that was set up to the company’s company. De Agostini & Caproni Aviato formed about ten drivers on the approx. 8 during the summer of 1911; Among them, Costantino Quaglia (who would have participated in the Libyan campaign as Aviatore), Enrico Cobioni (who later he would have beaten several records and would become the chief instructor of the school itself), Constantine Biego (which would then would then control the battalion were remembered. Aviatori of the aeronautical service) and the Russian Constantine Akakew (who would become the first commander of the Soviet Air Force in 1921). ^{[11] [twelfth]}

• Rosario Abate, Gregory Alegi and Giorgio Apostolo, Caproni Aeroplani – Gianni Caproni creator and manufacturer of Italian wings , Trento, Association of the Air Force Museum “G. Caproni”, 1992, ISBN not existing.
• Giovanni Celoria (edited by), Three years of aviation in the Burgiera di Somma Lombardo (April 5, 1910 – April 5, 1913) , Milan, Stab. Tip. Cooperative Union, 1913, ISBN not existing. (Reprinted in anastatic edition edited by Romano Turrini, Trento, the top – Museum of the Air Force G. Caproni – Municipality of Arco, 2004).