Caproni Campini N.1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Caproni Campini N.1 | |
|---|---|
 A Caproni Campini N.1 in flight |
|
| Type | |
| Manufacturer | Caproni |
| Maiden flight | 27 August, 1940 |
| Status | Prototype |
| Number built | 2 |
The Caproni Campini N.1 (sometimes incorrectly referred to as the CC.2) was an early motorjet-powered test aeroplane.
Contents |
[edit] Design and development
In 1931 Italian engineer Secondo Campini submitted a report on the potential of jet propulsion to the Ministry of Air Force, and the following year, demonstrated a jet-powered boat in Venice. In 1934, the Air Force 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 500 kW (750 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" but the term motorjet is in common usage today since thermojet is now used to refer to a particular type of pulsejet (an unrelated form of jet engine).
[edit] Operational history
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.
Following World War II, one of the prototypes was shipped to the UK for study at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough.
[edit] Operators
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[edit] Survivors
Prototype taken to UK for tests subsequently disappeared. 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× motorjet, 6.9 kN (1550 lbf)
- 1× Isotta-Fraschini L. 121/R.C. 40 radial piston engine, 500 kW (750 hp)
Piston engine drove a three-stage axial compressor for the thermojet with variable pitch vanes
Performance
- Never exceed speed: km/h (knots, mph)
- Maximum speed: 375 km/h (knots, 233 mph)
- Cruise speed: km/h (knots, mph)
- Stall speed: km/h (knots, mph)
- Range: km (nm, mi)
- Service ceiling 4000 m (13,300 ft)
- Rate of climb: m/s (ft/min)
- Wing loading: kg/m² (lb/ft²)
- Power/mass (prop): W/kg (hp/lb)
[edit] References
- ^ Morse (ed), Stan (1982). Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft. Orbis Publishing.
- Morse, Stan. Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft, Orbis Publishing, 1982.
[edit] External links
- [1] A page with photographs and a cutaway drawing of the N.1
[edit] See also
Comparable aircraft
Related lists
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