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 An aircraft constructed with a push-pull configuration has a combination of forward-mounted tractor (pull) propellers, and backward-mounted ( pusher) propellers. Historical The earliest known examples of "push-pull" engined-layout aircraft incl ...

within a common nacelle mounted on struts in the interplane gap above 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 ...

. The two pilots sat in an open cockpit, while ten passengers could be accommodated within the fuselage. The publication of General

Giulio Douhet General Giulio Douhet (30 May 1869 – 15 February 1930) was an Italian general and air power theorist. He was a key proponent of strategic bombing in aerial warfare. He was a contemporary of the 1920s air warfare advocates Walther Wever, Billy ...

's seminal treatise on

strategic bombing Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...

''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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

-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. ...

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

s, 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 queen ...

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 A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

** 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