side bar topic of axis experimentals ww 2 italian air force

[tom d. friedman]

a side bar to the other thread.....ww 2 italian air force experimental warbird info is rarer than anything!!! i know of the early 40's slow assed turkey jet, but really nothing else pertaining to the topic of their x- planes. if i recall the italian's 1st jet prototype had crude lines ressembling the p-80 shooting stars years before it's inception.

[Michel Lemieux]

Funny you should mention Tom.

I have been looking for books on Italian WW2 prototypes & research AC almost for years now !!!

[Glyn]

The one thing you can safely say about Italian aircraft is that they will handle beautifully, so I would expect their wartime experimentals to do so.

[Michel Lemieux]

The first jet you are talking about Tom is the Caproni Campini.

A piston driven turbine

Reported as a "real" underperformer.

The configuration was close to the P-80 only by the fact of having a fuse mounted engine & a low mounted wing with regular tail. For the reast, it looks like a standard wing profile & tail layout of Italian birds of the same area.

Only a few where made & one survived complete while another fuselage used for testing is also still around. Not bad for a survival rate

From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campini_Caproni_CC.2

[Michel Lemieux]

OK....just curious.

Quoted from Wiki....

Following World War II, one of the prototypes was shipped to the United Kingdom for study at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough.

Most probably from the mentionned book:
The Jet Race and the Second World War

http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/C9355.aspx

A) Anyne has a copy & is it a good book ? Definitively looks like a good read.

B) Anyone seen pics of this at Farnborough ? Was it repainted ?

[JDK]

Didn't we rather cover this in some detail before?

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... hp?t=26358

There's some fascinating books and websites on Italian aircraft of W.W.II. They're mostly in ~gasp~ Italian. With a bit of effort a good deal of the language can be figured out, IMHO, if you have a bit of English or French (or Spanish or Latin, all being Romance languages) but I do have a bit of a head start there. Web, try www.google.it - "pagine provenienti da: Italia". Getting the books outside Italy can be a trick, so it's a good excuse to visit. Have a coffee while you are there! Otherwise try your serious aviation bookshops. There are good books on most major aspects in English, often produced in Poland, etc.

HTH

[Michel Lemieux]

Didn't we rather cover this in some detail before?

I guess we did James

I am still curious about the Farnborough period of one of the bird however.

Have a coffee while you are there

Coffee OK maybee an espresso early AM....but then...bring on the vino. Anyway it's a table condiment like salt & pepper in Italy

For actually visiting....well, I'll have to wait untill the kids get older

[JDK]

Coffee OK maybee an espresso early AM....but then...bring on the vino. Anyway it's a table condiment like salt & pepper in Italy

For actually visiting....well, I'll have to wait untill the kids get older

You are right there. And so it should be. It's not vino da tavola for nothing... Hey, sell the kids, the wine's cheap!

I am still curious about the Farnborough period of one of the bird however.

Since I had my copy of War Prizes lifted, I've not been able to check, I have a vague recollection of it on show in natural metal. IIRC, it was not flown or repainted in the UK, just displayed before return to Italy. Anyone with a copy of Butler's great book or who knows more...