The Caproni Ca.73 was an Italian

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...

produced during the 1920s which went on to serve as a

light bomber A light bomber is a relatively small and fast type of military bomber aircraft that was primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance. The earliest light bombers were intended to dro ...

in the newly independent ''

Regia Aeronautica The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolis ...

''.

Design and development

The Ca.73 was an inverted

sesquiplane 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 a ...

with a

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 ...

tail and two engines mounted in a push-pull configuration within a common nacelle mounted on struts in the interplane gap above the fuselage. The two pilots sat in an open cockpit, while ten passengers could be accommodated within the fuselage. The publication of General Giulio Douhet's seminal treatise on strategic bombing ''Il dominio dell'aria'' (''The Command of the Air'') in 1921 had left Italy's military planners acutely aware of a lack of this capability. Established as a separate service in 1923, the ''Regia Aeronautica'' relied upon World War I-vintage

Caproni Ca.3 The Caproni Ca.3 is an Italian heavy bomber of World War I and the postwar era. It was the most produced version of the series of aircraft that began with the 1914 Caproni Ca.1 and continued until the more powerful 1917 Caproni Ca.5 variant. ...

bombers, and a replacement was soon sought. The immediate solution was to repurpose the Ca.73 as a warplane by adding a gunner's position in the nose, dorsally, and ventrally amidships. Bombs were carried on external racks on the fuselage sides. Ca.73s remained in frontline service until 1934, and from 1926 onwards participated in Italy's military actions in North Africa.

Variants

* Ca.73 – airliner powered by

Isotta Fraschini Asso 500 Iseult (), alternatively Isolde () and other spellings, is the name of several characters in the legend of Tristan and Iseult. The most prominent is Iseult of Ireland, the wife of Mark of Cornwall and the lover of Tristan. Her mother, the qu ...

engines ** Ca.73''bis'' – airliner powered by Lorraine-Dietrich engines ** Ca.73''ter'' (later redesignated Ca.82) – bomber version with gun positions and fuselage bomb racks ** Ca.73''quarter'' (later redesignated Ca.88) – bomber with revised control systems and strengthened airframe *** Ca.73''quarter''G (later redesignated Ca.89) – bomber with glazed nose, underwing bomb racks, and retractable ventral gun turret ** Ca.74 (later redesignated Ca.80) – version powered by

Bristol Jupiter The Bristol Jupiter was a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments turn ...

engines * Ca.80 – the Ca.74 redesignated ** Ca.80S – air-ambulance and paratroop transport version * Ca.82 – redesignated Ca.73''ter'' * Ca.88 – redesignated Ca.73''quarter'' * Ca.89 – redesignated Ca.73''quarter''G

Operators

Military operators

; * ''

Specifications (Ca.73)

References