Caproni Campini N.1
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- "CC2" redirects here. This article is for an airplane. For the Royal Canadian Navy submarine referred to as CC2, see HMCS CC2.
| Caproni Campini N.1 | |
|---|---|
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| A Caproni Campini N.1 in flight | |
| Role | |
| Manufacturer | Caproni |
| First flight | 27 August 1940 |
| Status | Prototype |
| Number built | 2 |
The Caproni Campini N.1 (sometimes incorrectly referred to as the CC.2) was an early motorjet-powered test aircraft.
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[edit] Design and development
In 1931 Italian engineer Secondo Campini submitted a report on the potential of jet propulsion to the Regia Aeronautica, and the following year, demonstrated a jet-powered boat in Venice. In 1934, the Regia Aeronautica granted approval for the development of a jet aircraft to demonstrate the principle.
As designed by Campini, the aircraft did not have a jet engine in the sense that we know them today. Rather, a conventional 500 kW (670 hp) Isotta Fraschini L. 121/R.C. 40 piston engine was used to drive a compressor, which forced compressed air into a combustion chamber where it was mixed with fuel and ignited. The exhaust produced by this combustion was to drive the aircraft forward. Campini called this configuration a "thermojet," but the term "motorjet" is in common usage today since thermojet is now used to refer to a particular type of pulsejet (an unrelated form of jet engine). It has also been described as a ducted fan.[1]
[edit] Operational history
Campini turned to the Caproni aircraft factory to help build the prototypes, and two aircraft and a non-flying ground testbed were eventually constructed. The first flight was on 27 August 1940 with test pilot Mario De Bernardi at the controls.
Great propaganda use was made of the aircraft by Benito Mussolini and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale recognised this at the time as the first successful flight by a jet aeroplane.
Following World War II, one of the prototypes was shipped to the United Kingdom for study at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough.
[edit] Operators
[edit] Survivors
Prototype taken to UK for tests subsequently disappeared. The other prototype is now on display at the Aeronautical Museum of Vigna di Valle in Rome and the ground testbed is at the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan.
[edit] Specifications
Data from [2]
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Length: 13.10 m (43 ft 0 in)
- Wingspan: 15.85 m (52 ft 0 in)
- Height: 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in)
- Wing area: 36.00 m² (387.5 ft²)
- Empty weight: 3,640 kg (8,024 lb)
- Max takeoff weight: 4,195 kg (9,250 lb)
- Powerplant:
- 1× motorjet, 6.9 kN (1,550 lbf)
- 1× Isotta-Fraschini L. 121/R.C. 40 radial engine, 500 kW (750 hp)
Piston engine drove a three-stage axial compressor for the thermojet with variable pitch vanes
Performance
- Maximum speed: 375 km/h (233 mph)
- Service ceiling: 4,000 m (13,300 ft)
[edit] See also
Comparable aircraft
Related lists
[edit] References
- ^ Pavelec, Sterling Michael (2007). The jet race and the Second World War (illustrated ed.). Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Security International. pp. 5-6, 41, 184. ISBN 0275993558. OCLC 74966612. http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/C9355.aspx.
- ^ Morse, Stan, ed (1982). Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft. Orbis Publishing. OCLC 16544050.
- Morse, Stan. Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft, Orbis Publishing, 1982.
[edit] External links
- [1] A page with photographs and a cutaway drawing of the N.1
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