The Piaggio P.8 was an Italian

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).

Design and development

Piaggio designed the P.8 to meet a ''Regia Marina'' requirement for a small reconnaissance

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 ...

that could operate from the large

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

''Ettore Fieramosca''. The aircraft had to be designed so that it could be stowed disassembled in a watertight, cylindrical

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

aboard the submarine. In order to minimize danger to the submarine and the aircraft during flight operations—which required ''Ettore Fieramosca'' to loiter on the surface while the aircraft was being assembled or disassembled—the aircraft was designed to be assembled quickly for flight operations and disassembled quickly after recovery for stowage in its hangar. The P.8, which first flew in 1928, was a single-seat

monoplane 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 ...

with twin floats mounted beneath its

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 ...

and a parasol wing. Its 56-

kilowatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

(75-

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

) Blackburn Cirrus II engine drove a two-bladed propeller and gave it a top speed of 135 kilometers per hour (84 miles per hour).

Operational history

The P.8 was among various small seaplanes considered for use aboard ''Ettore Fieramosca'', which was commissioned in 1930. None of the aircraft were deployed aboard the submarine, and ''Ettore Fieramosca''s hangar was removed in 1931.

Operators

; *''

Specifications

Notes

References

External links

AR - Aircraft Manuals Blueprints Video Publications: Piaggio P.8
{{Portal bar, Italy, Companies, Aviation P.008 1920s Italian military reconnaissance aircraft Floatplanes Submarine-borne aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Parasol-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1928