Caproni AP.1
attack aircraft
The Caproni Bergamaschi AP.1 was an Italian monoplane attack aircraft designed by Cesare Pallavicino, coming from the Breda firm.
Design and development
Developed from the Ca.301, a single-seat fighter version of a similar design that was not put into production, the AP.1 was a two-seater version, fitted with a more powerful Alfa Romeo radial engine. Designed to serve both as a fighter and an attack aircraft, it was a low-wing monoplane with a fixed landing gear of mixed construction, having trouser-covered legs. Although it was a monoplane at a time when many of the air forces of the world were flying biplanes, the Caproni was still an anachronism with fixed landing gear (at that time, most new aircraft designs featured retractable landing gears).
The AP.1 prototype first flew on 27 April 1934. An initial series of 12 aircraft was delivered within 1936. In the same year, the Regia Aeronautica ordered a second series with improvements including a more powerful Alfa Romeo engine and more aerodynamic landing gear. In service, the large landing gear trousers were often removed for ease of maintenance.
Operational history
The Caproni AP.1 equipped a total of eight squadriglie (Italian air unit equivalent to half an RAF squadron) of the assault wings of the Regia Aeronautica. It took part in the Spanish Civil War, but its unsatisfactory performance led to its quick replacement with the Breda Ba.64, Ba.65 and Ba.88 types.
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This entry incorporates text from “Caproni AP.1” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.