CAPRONI CA.3 WITH 25,4 MM GUN

The Caproni Ca.3 was an Italian heavy bomber bomber of a mixed design with a fixed undercarriage. The drive was provided by three motors An Isotta-Fraschini V4B with 150 HP each . The prototype flight took place in 1916 or 1917. Serial production started shortly after, which lasted until 1925 and resulted in the creation of about 470 aircraft of this type. The armament was two 6.5 mm Fiat-Revelli machine guns and a bomb load of up to 450 kg. The roots of the construction of the Caproni Ca.3 machine go back to the period before the outbreak of World War I, when the Italian armed forces - as one of the first in the world - started to develop a multi-engine, heavy bomber plane. The result of this work was the Ca.1 and Ca.2 machines, which were used to create the Ca.3 bomber. In essence, it was very similar to its predecessors - for example, it retained the same unusual engine layout with one push and two pull motors - but it had newer and more powerful engines. The machine entered the line in the first half of 1917 and served until the end of the First World War. The Ca.3 aircraft turned out to be successful - it was reliable, with little failure, it was characterized by a simple but durable structure, it also had decent handling qualities. The quality of the machine can be proved by the fact that after 1918 its production was continued until 1925! It is worth adding that the designation of the planes was changed then: Ca.3 bombers produced in 1917-1918 received the designation Ca.33. and those created after 1918 - Ca.36. Ca.3 planes were also licensed in France.