Caproni Ca.2

The Caproni Ca.2 was an Italian heavy bomber of the World War I era.

Development

The Ca.2 was a minor development of the Caproni Ca.1. It had become evident early in the Ca.1's service life that the design could benefit from more power. Caproni therefore replaced the central, pusher engine of the aircraft with a more powerful one. Caproni referred to this as the Caproni 350 hp at the time, and the Italian Army dubbed it the Ca.2. No separate number seems to have been allocated to it in Caproni's post-war redesignation scheme.

Only nine aircraft were built, supplied to the Italian Army alongside deliveries of Ca.1s between August 1915 and December 1916.

The benefits of increased power encouraged Caproni to continue in this direction, leading to the definitive Caproni Ca.3.

Description

Three-engine biplane of a wooden construction, covered with fabric. Crew: 4 in an open central nacelle (front gunner, two pilots and rear gunner-mechanic). The rear gunner manned upper machine guns, standing upon the central engine in a protective "cage", just before a propeller. Tricycle landing gear.

Armament: 2 to 4 Revelli 6.5mm or 7.7mm machine guns: 1 in front ring mounting and 1, 2 or sometimes even 3 in an upper ring mounting. Bombs suspended under the hull.

Operators

• Italy : Corpo Aeronautico Militare

Specifications (Ca.2)

General characteristics

• Crew: Four (pilot, co-pilot, front gunner, and rear gunner/mechanic)

Performance Armament

• 2 × 6.5 mm FIAT-Revelli machine guns
• Bombs mounted under the hull

References

• Aerei Italiani (Italian)

See also

• Push-pull configuration

Related development Ca.1 - Ca.3 - Ca.5 Related lists

• List of military aircraft of Entente Powers in WWI
• List of bomber aircraft