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Description: The Caproni Ca183 bis was an Italian hybrid turboprop/jet aircraft of the Second World War made by the Italian company Caproni. After 1940, the Italian engineer Second Campini started to design and project a new fighter based on his previous experience with the already existing Caproni Campini C.C.2 experimental jet aircraft. The new aircraft was designed to satisfy the Regia Aeronautica requirement for a new high-altitude, pressurized interceptor. It was also the Caproni trial to become one of the few producers of DB605-powered aircraft in a market where only Fiat, Reggiane, and Macchi were present. The aircraft was equipped with a Daimler Benz DB605 with two counter-rotating blades in the front and a Fiat A.30 in the back. The second engine was pretty old and wasn’t very powerful, but it wasn’t intended to work like a normal engine. Indeed, it’s only purpose was to power the Campini compressor. This compressor was the same as the Caproni Campini N1, the first Italian jet ever built. It’s purpose was to give the aircraft a jet engine to gather more speed in some periods of the flight to reach enemy aircraft and higher altitudes faster. The aircraft was equipped with various air vents on the side to avoid the overheating of the second engine and to make the compressor functional. The project was judged very advanced for the time being, and some people thought that Italy didn’t have the industrial capability to mass produce it. This could probably be true, but regardless, in 1942, the construction of a prototype was started by the company. Indeed, it is worth mentioning that the Regia Aeronautica never ordered a prototype; it was basically a private venture of the company in order to build an innovative plane that could interest the Regia Aeronautica. When the armistice arrived in December 1943, it was reported that the prototype was 80% complete, and the works were stopped due to this event. Later, after the Italian Social Republic was founded, the company continued to work on the prototype. Unfortunately, it is reported that it met its fate in 1944, when one of the allied bomber raids on the company destroyed it.
Why it should be in game: It could give to the Italian tt a very powerfoul and fast interceptor between the G56 and the Vampire. It will also be the first prop with an “afterburner” in game.
Specifications
Riepilogo
Wing Span: 21 m
Height: 4,10 m
Lenght: 15,45 m
Empty weight: 5200 kg
Full wight: 7500 kg
Max speed (no termojet): 740 km/h
Max speed (with termojet): 832 km/h
Engine: 1x Alfa-Romeo “Tifone”(Daimler-Benz DB-605) making 1,250 hp driving a six blade contrarotating propellor.
1x FIAT A.30 radial piston engine making 700 hp driving the Campini engine
Range: 1,242 miles
Crew: 1
Armament: 4x 20 mm MG151 cannons in the wings and 1x 30 mm MK108 (or 20 mm MG151) cannon between the cylinder banks of the engine
Sources
Riepilogo
Italian Aircraft of WWII: Caproni Campini Ca.183bis
Might Have Beens: Italian Twin-Engined Fighters, 1943
Caproni Campini Ca.183bis - Wikipedia
Books
Aerei Nella Storia 4-5/2009
L+K 1996/6
Pictures
