Caproni Campini N.1

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Caproni Campini N.1

A Caproni Campini N.1 in flight
Type
Manufacturer	Caproni
Designed by	Secondo Campini
Maiden flight	August 27, 1940
Number built	2

The Caproni Campini N.1 (sometimes incorrectly referred to as the CC.2) was an early thermojet-powered aeroplane.

In 1931 Italian engineer Secondo Campini submitted a report on the potential of jet propulsion to the Italian Air Ministry, and the following year, demonstrated a jet-powered boat in Venice. In 1934, the Air Ministry 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 piston engine 670 kW (900 hp) Isotta Fraschini L. 121/R.C. 40) 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".

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 August 27, 1940 with test pilot Mario de Bernardi at the controls.

Great propaganda use was made of the aircraft by Mussolini and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale recognised this at the time as the first successful flight by a jet aeroplane, although it was later to emerge that this honour belongs to the Heinkel He 178 that flew a whole year earlier, and using a true turbojet.

Some of them were used by the Germans in the Eastern Front in WWII for reconaissance roles, much like the Soviet's use of Polikarpov U-2, only with much better performance.

Following World War II, one of the prototypes was shipped to the UK for study at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, and subsequently disappeared and was probably scrapped. 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 ^[1]

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: 3640 kg (8024 lb)
Loaded weight: kg (lb)
Useful load: kg (kg)
Max takeoff weight: 4195 kg (9250 lb)
Powerplant:
- 1× thermojet, 6.9 kN (1550 lbf)
- 1× Isotta-Fraschini L. 121/R.C. 40 radial piston engine , 671 kW (900 hp)
  Piston engine drove a three-stage fan compressor for the thermojet