The AUT.18 was a prototype fighter aircraft developed in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Aeronautica Umbra Aeronautica Umbra SA was an Italian aircraft manufacturer founded at Foligno in 1935 by Muzio Macchi. The firm produced SM.79 bombers for the Regia Aeronautica but never enjoyed success with its own designs. Its best-known attempt was the AUT.18 f ...

shortly before the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It was designed in 1934 by Felice Trojani, who at that time was collaborating with

Umberto Nobile Umberto Nobile (; 21 January 1885 – 30 July 1978) was an Italian aviator, aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer. Nobile was a developer and promoter of semi-rigid airships in the years between the two World Wars. He is primarily remembe ...

on the Arctic flights of the airships ''

Norge Norge is Norwegian (bokmål), Danish and Swedish for Norway. It may also refer to: People * Kaare Norge (born 1963), Danish guitarist * Norge Luis Vera (born 1971), Cuban baseball player Places * 11871 Norge, asteroid Toponyms: * Norge, Okla ...

'' and ''

Italia Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

''. The aircraft's designation came from initials of the manufacturer, the surname of the designer, and the aircraft's wing area (18 m²), the sole prototype receiving the serial no. ''M.M.363''.

Design & Development

Born from the same ''

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 Regio Esercito, Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the mon ...

'' requirement that spawned the Caproni-Vizzola F.5,

FIAT G.50 The Fiat G.50 ''Freccia'' ("Arrow") was a World War II Italian fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by aviation company Fiat. Upon entering service, the type became Italy’s first single-seat, all-metal monoplane that had an enclosed c ...

Macchi C.200 The Macchi C.200 Saetta (Italian: "Lightning"), or MC.200, was a fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by Aeronautica Macchi in Italy. Various versions were flown by the ''Regia Aeronautica'' (Italian Air Force) who used the type throughou ...

, Meridionali Ro 51 and

Reggiane Re 2000 The Reggiane Re.2000 ''Falco'' I was an Italian all metal, low-wing monoplane developed and manufactured by aircraft company Reggiane. The type was used by the ''Regia Aeronautica'' (Italian Air Force) and the Swedish Air Force during the first ...

fighters, the A.U.T.18 flew for the first time on 22 April 1939, powered by a

Fiat A.80 The Fiat A.80 was an 18-cylinder, twin-row, air-cooled, radial aircraft engine produced during World War II. Rated at 1,000 hp (745 kW), it was a more powerful development of the 14-cylinder Fiat A.74. Variants ;Fiat A.80 R.C.20:With ...

R.C.41 radial engine. The fighter had an all-metal stressed-skin structure, covered in

duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of ''Dürener'' and ''aluminium''. Its use as a tra ...

, featuring an inwardly-retracting undercarriage and retractable tail-wheel and was armed with two

Breda-SAFAT Breda-SAFAT (''Società Italiana Ernesto Breda per Costruzioni Meccaniche / Breda Meccanica Bresciana'' - ''Società Anonima Fabbrica Armi Torino'') was an Italian weapons manufacturer of the 1930s and 1940s that designed and produced a range of m ...

machine-guns mounted in the wings just outboard of the undercarriage. Flight trials proved disappointing and lagged behind the other fighters in ''Progetto R'' - the modernisation (''riammodernamento'') of the ''Regia Aeronautica''. With no production orders forthcoming, despite the prototype being returned to the Umbra factory at

Foligno Foligno (; Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system. It is located s ...

for modifications on 20 February 1940 and a second flight test series from 5 November 1940, no improvement was demonstrated over fighters already in production so the A.U.T.18 was abandoned.

Operational history

After delivery to the

on 5 November 1940 the fate of the prototype is not known, possibly being transferred to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

for evaluation, it was also rumoured to have been captured by British forces, but it is more likely that it was destroyed in a raid after its transfer to Orvieto.

Design & Development

Operational history

Specifications (AUT.18)

See also

Further reading