The CNA PM.1 was a single-engine light sport and

training aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristi ...

designed and built in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

at the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After tests of the prototype a small production run was laid down but destroyed by bombing.

Design and development

The PM.1 was designed by students at the Instituto di Construzioni Aeronautische del Regio Politecnico di Milano in a 1938 competition for a modern, two-seat light private training and sports aircraft. The name came from Polytechnic Milano. The prototype was built by CNA, first flying on 25 October 1939. The PM.1 was a

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

high-wing monoplane. Its wing was straight-tapered, with rounded tips and long span

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in Flight dynamics, roll (or ...

, built of wood with a

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

skin. The

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

had a similar plan, placed on top of the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

with the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

of the

elevators An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They are ...

in line with the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

hinge so the rudder, which extended to the base of the fuselage, could move unimpeded. The

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

and rudder were rounded and pointed; the rudder carried a

trim tab Trim tabs are small surfaces connected to the trailing edge of a larger control surface on a boat or aircraft, used to control the trim of the controls, i.e. to counteract hydro- or aerodynamic forces and stabilise the boat or aircraft in a pa ...

. The fuselage, also wooden and plywood-covered, was flat-sided, with car-type doors giving access to the side-by-side seats in the cabin which was placed under the

leading edge The leading edge of an airfoil surface such as a wing is its foremost edge and is therefore the part which first meets the oncoming air.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, ...

of the wing. In front, a compactly cowled, 40 kW (60 hp)

CNA D.4 CNA aircraft engines 1930s aircraft piston engines Boxer engines ...

flat four engine A flat-four engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-four engine, is a four-cylinder piston engine with two banks of cylinders lying on opposite sides of a common crankshaft. The most common type of flat-four engine is the boxer-four engine, ...

drove a 2-blade propeller. The PM.1 had a

conventional undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

with mainwheels on centrally mounted, faired V-form half axles and with vertical legs to the bottom

longerons In engineering, a longeron and stringer is the load-bearing component of a framework. The term is commonly used in connection with aircraft fuselages and automobile chassis. Longerons are used in conjunction with stringers to form structural ...

, assisted by a tailskid.

Operational history

The outbreak of war and the need to concentrate on front-line aircraft delayed production of the PM.1, but an order for 10 was placed in August 1942. The partially completed aircraft were destroyed in an Allied bombing raid on Rome in July 1943; though the prototype avoided this event, it was destroyed later in the war. Its design influenced that of the post-war

Macchi MB.308 The Macchi MB.308, later Aermacchi MB-308, was a light aircraft produced in Italy in the late 1940s. Development It was a conventional high-wing Cantilever#Aircraft, cantilever monoplane with fixed Tricycle gear, tricycle undercarriage. Constr ...

, though the latter has a

tricycle undercarriage Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle ge ...

and a markedly revised tail.

Specifications

References

{{CNA aircraft 1930s Italian sport aircraft Compagnia Nazionale Aeronautica High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1939