The Caproni Ca.113 was an advanced

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or Physical fitness, fitness that relate to specific practicality, useful Competence (human resources), competencies. Training has specific goals of improving on ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

produced in Italy and Bulgaria in the early 1930s. Designed as a follow-on to the Ca.100, it was a more powerful and robust aircraft capable of aerobatics. It was a conventional design with two

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

s in tandem, single-bay staggered wings of equal span, and mainwheels covered by large spats.

Design and development

The Ca.113's capabilities were demonstrated by

Mario De Bernardi Mario de Bernardi (1893–1959) was an Italian World War I fighter pilot, seaplane air racer of the 1920s, and test pilot of early Italian experimental jets. Early life De Bernardi was born on 1 July 1893 in Venosa, Italy. In 1911, at the age ...

's win of the aerobatic trophy at the 1931 Cleveland Air Races with engine Walter CastorLetectví, Vol. 11. (1931), No. 9., p. 329, https://kramerius.army.cz/search/i.jsp?pid=uuid:8d7084b2-520b-11e9-94e9-005056b73ae5 and its use in setting a number of aerial records, most importantly a world altitude record of 14,433 m (47,352 ft) set by

Renato Donati Renatus is a first name of Latin origin which means " born again" (natus = born). In Italian, Portuguese and Spanish it exists in masculine and feminine forms: Renato and Renata. In French they have been translated to René and Renée. Renata is ...

on 11 April 1934 using a modified Ca.113with longer span wings and powered by a supercharged Alfa-Romeo-built

Bristol Pegasus The Bristol Pegasus is a British nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial aero engine. Designed by Roy Fedden of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, it was used to power both civil and military aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. Developed from t ...

engine. Other records included a women's world altitude record of 12,010 m (39,400 ft) set by Contessa Carina Negrone in 1935, and world endurance records for inverted flight. These latter records were set by Tito Falconi at the US 1933 National Air Races, who flew inverted from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

and after the race meet, made an inverted flight from

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

The Ca.113 was also produced in quantity by the subsidiary that Caproni established in

Kazanlak Kazanlak ( bg, Казанлък , Thracian and Greek Σευθόπολις (''Seuthopolis''), tr, Kazanlık) is a Bulgarian town in Stara Zagora Province, located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan mountain ...

, Bulgaria. Here, it was known as the ''Chuchuliga'' ("

Skylark ''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are ...

") and was produced in a number of versions designated KB-2, KB-3, KB-4 and KB-5 in 1938-1939, some of which were armed. 107 of these aircraft were produced, most going to the Bulgarian Royal Air Force, where they saw service until the country was overrun by the Soviet Union in 1944. Caproni Ca-113 I-MARY

Variants

;KB-2UT :Bulgarian training version of Ca.113, with increased dimensions and powered by

BMW IV The BMW IV was a six-cylinder, water-cooled inline aircraft engine built in Germany in the 1920s. Power was in the 180 kW (250 hp) range. World record On 17 June 1919 Franz Zeno Diemer flew a DFW F37, powered by a BMW IV engine t ...

Junkers L2 The Junkers L2 was Junkers' first water-cooled four-stroke engine and the first to be built on a production line, though only 58 were made. It was a six-cylinder inline engine and powered many Junkers aircraft until replaced by the more powerful ...

or Hispano-Suiza engine. Italian designation of Ca.113/32. Eight built 1933–1935. ;KB-2A ''Chuchuliga'' : Revised derivative of KB-2UT, powered by Walter Castor radial engine. Italian designation of Ca.113/35. Six built 1936. ;KB-3 ''Chuchuliga I'' : Improved trainer based on KB-2A, with lightened structure and Walter Castor II engine. Italian designation Ca.113/36. Twenty built 1937. ;KB-4 ''Chuchuliga II'' : Armed reconnaissance/liaison aircraft, powered by Wright R-975 E-2 Whirlwind. Italian designation ''Ca.113/39''. 28 built 1938–1939. ;KB-5 ''Chuchuliga III'' : Reconnaissance/light bomber for Bulgarian Air Force. Prototype powered by Piaggio P.VII C.I engine, with production aircraft powered by Walter Pollux II engine. Italian designation Ca.113/40. 45 built 1939–1940.

Operators

; *

Bulgarian Air Force The Bulgarian Air Force ( bg, Военновъздушни сили, Voennovazdushni sili) is one of the three branches of the Military of Bulgaria, the other two being the Bulgarian Navy and Bulgarian land forces. Its mission is to guard and p ...

; *

Peruvian Air Force The Peruvian Air Force ( es, link=no, Fuerza Aérea del Perú, FAP) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with defending the nation and its interests through the use of air power. Additional missions include assistance in safeguardin ...

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- One aircraft

Specifications

References

Bibliography