Template:Infobox Aircraft The Caproni Ca.135 was an Italian medium bomber designed at Bergamo in Italy by Cesare Pallavicino. It flew for the first time in 1935, and entered service in 1936.
History & Development
The aircraft was not allocated a type number in Caproni-Bergamaschi's 300 series as it was to have been built at Caproni's main Taliedo factory. This is why the type had a designation in the main Caproni sequence rather than in the Caproni Bergamaschi Ca. 300 series. In any case the project was retained at Ponte San Pietro and the prototype, completed in early 1935, was flown for the first time on 1 April.
Powered by two 800 hp (597 kW) Isotta Fraschini Asso XI RC radial engines, the Ca.135 was made of mixed materials, with a stressed-skin forward fuselage, and a wood and fabric-covered steel-tube rear section, the wing being of metal and wood, using fabric and wood as covering. In addition, the production version had three-bladed metal propellers instead of the two-bladed wooden ones used in the prototype.
Some 14 aircraft designated as the Ca.135 Tipo Spagna (Spanish type) were ordered by the Regia Aeronautica in 1936, and these were equipped with the slightly more powerful Asso XI RC14 engines. Presumably these aircraft were to have served with the Aviazione Legionaria fighting on the side of the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, but for some obscure reason they never did so.
The Tipo Spagna variants now also had Breda machine gun turrets in the nose and the dorsal and ventral positions, the last two being retractable. As a result of the added turrets and their associated machinery, the maximum take-off weight had increased from the prototype's 7,360 kg (16,226 lbs) to 8,390 kg (18,497 lbs), and the maximum speed suffered accordingly. While the prototype could fly at 400 kmh (248 mph), the Tipo Spagna could only do 365 kmh (227 mph).
To correct this, in 1938 the Tipo Spagna aircraft had Fiat A.80 RC.41 or Piaggio P.XI RC.40 radial engines installed, both rated at 1,000 hp (746 kW). Owing to the Fiat engine's unreliability, the Piaggio-powered version proved to be more successful, and this was redisgnated the Ca.135 P.XI and given revised engine cowlings, a refined nose, and a more modern Caproni-Lanciani dorsal machine-gun turret.
In the 1938 Imperial Japanese Army Air Force competition the Ca.135 P.XI had lost to the Fiat BR.20, but the Hungarian Air Force nonetheless ordered the aircraft. It is likely that these Hungarian Ca.135's had Manfred Weiss WM K-14 engines in place of the Piaggio P.XI's, since Hungary used these engines in its version of the Reggiane Re.2000 and its version of the Heinkel He 70. Both the Piaggio P.XI and the Manfred Weiss WM K-14 were licensed versions of the French Gnome-Rhône 14K Mistral Major.
A modified Ca.135 P.XI was also developed by Caproni by incorporating a dihedral tailplane and 1,400 hp (1,044 kW) Alfa Romeo 135 RC.32 Tornado radial engines and given the designation Ca.135 bis/Alfa. The newer and more powerful engines pushed the maximum speed of the Ca.135 to more than 480 kmh (298 mph).
The final variant was a one-off, known as the Ca.135 Raid. It had been built in 1937 to the order of Brazilian pilot de Barros, was powered by two 986 hp (736 kW) Asso XIs and provided with additional fuel capacity for a greatly extended range. While attempting a flight from Italy to Brazil in 1937, de Barros and the Ca.135 Raid disappeared over North Africa.
Operational Use
The Hungarian Air Force operated up to 100 of theCa.135s with some success against the Soviet Union in the Eastern Front in 1941 and 1942 once Hungary had committed its forces in that sector during during World War II.
Peru also ordered the Ca.135, and an initial delivery of six aircraft with 815 hp (608 kW) Asso XI RC.45 engines was followed by a contract for 32 others designated the Ca.135 Tipo Peru (Peruvian type). The later order had 900 hp (671 kW) Asso XI RC.40 engines in modified cowlings, as well as revised gun placements. These aircraft were used by the Peruvian Air Force in the 1941 Ecuadorian-Peruvian War and proved somewhat successful against Ecuadorian ground units.
Variants
- Ca.135 Tipo Spagna
- Ca.135 P.XI
- Ca.135 Tipo Peru
- Ca.135 bis/Alfa
- Ca.135 Raid
Operators
Specifications (Ca.135 P.XI)
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
- 3 × 12.7 mm (0.5 in) dorsal Breda-SAFAT machine guns in nose, dorsal, and ventral turrets.
- 1,600 kg (3,527 lb) internal bomb load.
References
- Commando Supremo - Italy At War (HTML) Accessed 14 August 2007.
- Mondey, David, Axis Aircraft of World War II, Chancellor Press 1996. ISBN 1-85152-996-7
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