The Pomilio PE was a

First World War 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 ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

armed reconnaissance biplane designed and built by the

Pomilio Fabbrica Aeroplani Ing. O. Pomilio was an Italian World War I biplane aircraft manufacturer. The Pomilio series of aircraft ( PC, PD, PE and PY) were two-seater scout aircraft. When first introduced in spring 1917, the type was faster than mos ...

brothers. It was developed from the earlier Pomilio PC and PD.

Development

The Pomilio brothers first armed reconnaissance biplane was the Pomilio PC which appeared in 1917. It was a conventional biplane of mixed construction with a fixed tailskid landing gear. It had two open cockpits in tandem and was powered by a nose-mounted 260 hp (194 kW)

Fiat A.12 The Fiat A.12 was a six-cylinder liquid-cooled straight engine, in-line engine with a Bore (engine), bore of 160 mm and a Stroke (engine), stroke of 180 mm, giving a Engine displacement, capacity of just under 22 litres, with variants p ...

engine. It first entered service in 1917 and was found to dangerously unstable which led to an improved design the Pomilio PD. Only some 70 Pomilio PC were made for Italian Air Force. Apart from other improvements, the PD introduced a tail fin and a ventral fin to help with the stability. The cylinder heads were exposed, and a radiator was placed in front of an upper wing. The PD was flown in June 1917. 431 PD were manufactured, including 93 dual control trainers, which were needed due to difficult flight characteristics.Alegi (2006), p.3 A further improvement was the Pomilio PE, fitted with a more powerful variant of the Fiat A.12bis. It had a fully cowled engine, with a vertical radiator in front of it, what changed the plane's appearance.Alegi (2006), 2nd cover On later machines, a triangular fin was replaced with a bigger trapezoid one. It entered production in October 1917, and 984 were made, including 103 trainers.Alegi (2006), p.36 Changes were made throughout the production run with later aircraft fitted with synchronized forward-firing machine-guns as well as observer's Lewis gun.

Variants

;Pomilio PC :Initial production variant ;Pomilio PD :Modified production variant with new tail unit and ventral fin, 575 PC and PDs built. ;Pomilio PE :Improved production variant with more powerful fully cowled engine, 984 built.

Operators

; *

Corpo Aeronautico Militare The Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare (Military Aviation Corps) was formed as part of the Regio Esercito (Royal Army) on 7 January 1915, incorporating the Aviators Flights Battalion (airplanes), the Specialists Battalion (airships) and the Ballon ...

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 ...

Specifications (PE)

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Authority control PE 1910s Italian military reconnaissance aircraft Military aircraft of World War I Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1917