Caproni Ca.3

Heavy Biplane Bomber Aircraft [ 1917 ]

The Ca.36 was the definitive Italian bomber design by the end of World War 1.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 05/31/2017 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

Image from the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio.

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The Caproni Ca.36 represented the definitive model in the C-bomber series debuted in 1914 as the C.31. The Ca.36 was a tremendous asset to allied operations against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and were put into action as quickly as Italy declared war. Surprisingly, the system survived in limited numbers long enough to be used for a time by Mussolini in the opening salvos of Italian involvement in World War 2.

At its core, the Ca.36 was a three-engine biplane bomber of wood and fabric construction. The 1914 Ca.31 appeared with 3 x Gnome rotary type engines with the improved Ca.32 following a year later. The Ca.32 sported three FIAT brand engines of 100 horsepower and were of the water-cooled in-line variety. These particular models were pressed into action almost immediately against Austrian targets. As the was progressed, Gianni Caproni produced an improved C-bomber in the form of the Ca.33 which featured Isotta-Fraschini powerplants. The Ca.34 and Ca.35 were proposed but never produced variants that tried to seat the pilots in tandem in a central nacelle position.

The culmination of the C-series came about with the arrival of the Ca.36 which featured a sectioned wing assembly that could be taken apart into five pieces for easier storage. Armament of this type consisted of 2 x FIAT-Revelli machine guns of 6.5mm or 7.7mm caliber. As a heavy bomber, the Ca.36 could carry an impressive payload of up to 1,764 pounds of ordnance. The Ca.36S represented an air ambulance conversion model while the Ca.36M (or "mod") was a model designed to simplify wartime production.

Operators - as well as producers - of the bomber included Italy, the United Kingdom, France and the United States of America. Other proposed or slightly developed variants of the C-series included the Ca.37 prototype of a two-seat dedicated ground attack bomber, a seaplane derivative in the Ca.39 and the Ca.56a - which were remanufactured wartime Ca.3 bombers for use as civilian passenger transports.©MilitaryFactory.com

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Specifications

Service Year

1917

Origin

Kingdom of Italy

Crew

4

Production

275
UNITS

Caproni - Italy

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

Kingdom of Italy; France; United Kingdom; United States

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Ground Attack (Bombing, Strafing)
Ability to conduct aerial bombing of ground targets by way of (but not limited to) guns, bombs, missiles, rockets, and the like.

Length

36.3 ft
(11.05 m)

Width/Span

74.6 ft
(22.74 m)

Height

12.1 ft
(3.70 m)

Empty Wgt

5,071 lb
(2,300 kg)

MTOW

8,378 lb
(3,800 kg)

Wgt Diff

+3,307 lb
(+1,500 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the Caproni Ca.3 (Ca.36) production variant)

Installed: 3 x Isotta-Fraschini V.4B engine delivering 150 horsepower each.

Max Speed

85 mph
(137 kph | 74 kts)

Ceiling

15,892 ft
(4,844 m | 3 mi)

Range

372 mi
(599 km | 1,109 nm)

Rate-of-Climb

413 ft/min
(126 m/min)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the Caproni Ca.3 (Ca.36) production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

STANDARD:
2 x 6.5mm OR 7.7mm FIAT-Revelli machine guns

OPTIONAL:
Up to 1,764lb of bombs

Supported Types

Graphical image of an aircraft medium machine gun

Graphical image of an aircraft conventional drop bomb munition

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

Hardpoint Mountings: 8

Ca.34 - Proposed Production Model; pilots in tandem seating.

Ca.35 - Proposed Production Model; pilots in tandem seating.

Ca.36 - Removable wing portions for improved storage of system.

Ca.36M - Post-War Model; refined production techniques.

Ca.36 mod - Post-War Model; refined production techniques.

Ca.36S - Air Ambulance Model

Ca.37 - Single Prototype Ground Attack Model; seating for two personnel.

Ca.39 - Proposed Seaplane Variant

Ca.56a - Civilian Passenger Transport Airliner Conversion Models.

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Image from the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio.

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Image from the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio.

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