On August 2, 1919, a
Caproni Ca.48 airliner crashed at
Verona,
Italy. All aboard died, with various sources placing the death toll at 14,
[ 15,][ and 17.][ It was Italy‘s first commercial aviation disaster and the earliest heavier-than-air airliner disaster in history.
]
Flight history
The Caproni Ca.48, owned and operated by the Caproni company and flown by two Italian military pilots, took off from the companys home airfield at Taliedo, a district of Milan, Italy, on Saturday, August 2, 1919, at 7:30 a.m. local time for a flight to Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, where it arrived without incident at 9:22 a.m. After spending the day at Venice, the aircraft took off at 5:00 p.m. for the return flight to Taliedo.
Eyewitnesses reported that as the airliner passed near the airfield at Verona at an altitude of , its wings seemed first to flutter and then to collapse entirely. Several of the people on board jumped from the aircraft to their deaths before it crashed. There were no survivors.[
]
Aircraft
The Ca.48, a large triplane, was an airliner conversion of the Caproni Ca.42
The Caproni Ca.4 was an Italian heavy bomber of the World War I era.
Development
After designing the successful Caproni Ca.3, Ca.3, Gianni Caproni of the Caproni works designed a much bigger aircraft. It shared the unusual layout of the Caproni ...
variant of the Caproni Ca.4
The Caproni Ca.4 was an Italian heavy bomber of the World War I era.
Development
After designing the successful Ca.3, Gianni Caproni of the Caproni works designed a much bigger aircraft. It shared the unusual layout of the Caproni Ca.3, being a ...
heavy bomber; such bombers had seen service with the air component of the Italian Army during World War I in strikes against targets in Austria-Hungary, as well as with the British Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...
. Caproni carried out the Ca. 48 airliner conversion by removing all armament and mounting a double-deck cabin with large windows and seating for 23 passengers on the aircraft. Although it generated excitement when first introduced to the public, the Ca.48 probably never entered airline service.
Casualties
Sources agree that everyone aboard died in the crash, but differ on the number of people on board. A source published five days after the accident claims that 14 people – the airliner's two pilots; five prominent Italian journalists, among them Tullo Morgagni
Tullo Morgagni (Forlì, 25 September 1881 – Verona, 2 August 1919) was an Italian journalist and sports race director. He was the founder of several Italian cycling races, notably the Giro d'Italia, Milan–San Remo and the Giro di Lombardia.
...
;[ Later sources place the death toll at 15][ and 17][ without further explanation.
]
Notes
References
The civilian transport aircraft of Caproni (1918-1939)''Flight'', August 7, 1919, at flightglobal.com
*Guttman, Jon, "Crazy Capronis," ''Aviation History'', July 2008.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verona Caproni Ca.48 crash
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1919
Aviation accidents and incidents in Italy
Accidents and incidents by airline of Italy
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by in-flight structural failure
1919 in Italy
History of Verona
August 1919 events