The Piaggio P.6 was an Italian catapult-launched

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

designed and built by

Piaggio Piaggio & C. SpA (Piaggio ) is an Italian motor vehicle manufacturer, which produces a range of two-wheeled motor vehicles and compact commercial vehicles under seven brands: Piaggio, Vespa, Gilera, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Derbi, and Scarabeo. Its ...

for the ''

Regia Marina The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the Italian constitutional referendum, 1946, birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' ch ...

'' (Italian Royal Navy).

Development

To meet a ''Regia Marina'' requirement for a two-seat catapult-launched

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

, Piaggio produced two designs. The first, designated the P.6''bis'', was a small

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 ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

powered by a 190 kW (260 hp) Isotta Fraschini V.6 engine driving a pusher propeller. The second design designated, the P.6, was a floatplane with one large central float and two stabilising floats at the wingtips and a nose-mounted A.20 engine. Both aircraft had the same biplane wing structure with rigid strut bracing and both were armed with a single

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

(the flying-boat's in the bow and the floatplane's in the rear

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 ...

). In 1928, the P.6''ter'' was produced based on the P.6 floatplane with the engine boosted to 306 kW (410 hp). A production run of 15 P-6''ter'' aircraft was produced for the Italian Navy where it had an unremarkable career, being used on

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

s and

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

Variants

;P.6bis :

Prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

flying boat. ;P.6 :Prototype floatplane. ;P.6ter :Production floatplane, 15 built.

Operators

; *''

Specifications (P.6ter)

References

* * {{Portal bar, Italy, Companies, Aviation P.006 1920s Italian military reconnaissance aircraft Floatplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1927

Development

Variants

Operators

Specifications (P.6ter)

See also

References