The Caproni Ca.193 was an Italian liaison and air-taxi aircraft that was offered to the

Italian Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello , mascot = , anniversaries = 28 March ...

as an instrument flight trainer and to the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

for liaison. Design work started in 1945 and only the prototype was built. It was the last aircraft the

Caproni Caproni, also known as ''Società de Agostini e Caproni'' and ''Società Caproni e Comitti'', was an Italian aircraft manufacturer. Its main base of operations was at Taliedo, near Linate Airport, on the outskirts of Milan. Founded by Giovan ...

company designed and built in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Design and development

The aircraft is of all-metal construction, with cantilever

mid-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

s with detachable tips. 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, ...

s are swept-back, and the stressed-skin wings have flaps inboard of the

aileron 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 roll (or movement around ...

s. 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 ...

is a

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

structure, with a hinged nose to allow loading of a stretcher or other awkward loads. Seating can be arranged for one pilot and five passengers, or two pilots and three passengers. There is a door on both sides of the cabin, and there is a baggage compartment behind the rear seats. 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 ...

has twin fins at the ends of the dihedral stabiliser. 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 ...

and

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 ...

s are fabric-covered. The

tricycle landing gear 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 g ...

is hydraulically retractable. The two engines are mounted towards the rear of the wing, driving 2-bladed fixed-pitch pusher propellers. Originally planned to use

Blackburn Cirrus Major The Blackburn Cirrus Major is a British, inline-four aircraft engine that was developed in the late 1930s. Design and development The Blackburn Cirrus Major started life as a continued evolution of the original Cirrus and Hermes series of air ...

III engines, it was fitted with

Walter Minor The Walter Minor is a family of four- and six-cylinder inverted inline air-cooled engines, developed under auspices of ing. Šimůnek and used on light aircraft. First produced in 1929, the Minor engines' family has an advanced design for the p ...

6-III engines.

Operational history

The first flight of the prototype, registered I-POLO in reference to the designers, was flown by Tullio De Prato at

Linate Airport Milan Linate Airport is the third international airport of Milan, the second-largest city and largest urban area of Italy, behind Malpensa Airport and Orio al Serio Airport. It served 9,233,475 passengers in 2018, being the fifth busiest airp ...

, Milan, on 13 May 1949. The aircraft was then briefly tested by the military in Rome, but was returned to the manufacturer and no orders were forthcoming. Several variants were then considered, including the use of

turboprop engine A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

s, a

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

-equipped naval patrol version, and a 'colonial' model, but none was implemented. The aircraft was purchased by the Air Force as MM56701 in March 1950, and in July 1952 it was sold for civilian use, ending up with the Trento Aero Club at Gardolo Airport, where it was withdrawn from use in 1960. It is now on display, after refurbishment in 1991, at the

Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics The Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics (Italian language, Italian: ''Museo dell'Aeronautica Gianni Caproni'') is Italy's oldest aviation museum, as well as the country's oldest corporate museum. It was established in 1927 as the Caproni Museum ( ...

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

, Italy.

Specifications

References

Bibliography

* {{Portal bar, Italy, Companies, Aviation Ca.193 Mid-wing aircraft Twin-engined pusher aircraft 1940s Italian civil utility aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1949