| Caproni Campini N.1 | |
|---|---|
| A Caproni Campini N.1 in flight | |
| Role | |
| Manufacturer | Caproni |
| First flight | 27 August 1940 |
| Status | Prototype |
| Number built | 2 |
| Variants | Caproni Campini Ca.183bis |
The Caproni Campini N.1 (sometimes referred to as the CC.2) was an experimental aircraft built by the Italian aircraft manufacturer Caproni. It was considered the first jet-powered airplane to take flight, before the He 178 was made public.[1]
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In 1931, Italian engineer Secondo Campini submitted a report on the potential of jet propulsion to the Regia Aeronautica, and the following year, demonstrated a jet-powered boat in Venice. In 1934, the Regia Aeronautica 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 700 kW (940 hp) Isotta Fraschini L. 121/R.C. 40 piston engine was used to drive a compressor, which forced 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 for this arrangement since thermojet is now used to refer to a particular type of pulsejet (an unrelated form of jet engine). It has also been described as a ducted fan.[2]
The Italian aircraft designer Luigi Stipa (1900–1992) contended that his Stipa-Caproni experimental aircraft, a ducted-fan design of 1932, was the first aircraft to employ what he called an "intubed propeller" -- essentially the motorjet principle—and that he therefore deserves the credit for the invention of the jet engine. The Caproni-Campini N.1 did employ many of the principles first tested in the Stipa-Caproni aircraft, albeit in a more advanced form.
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 27 August 1940 with test pilot Mario De Bernardi at the controls. De Bernardi would do most of the flying of the N.1[3]
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale recognised this at the time as the first successful flight by a jet aeroplane, until news of the Heinkel He 178 V1 which flew for the first time in August 1939, powered by the HeS 3B. In November 1941 it made its the first official flight between Rome and Milan.
Following World War II, one of the prototypes was shipped to the United Kingdom for study at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough.
The prototype taken to the United Kingdom for tests subsequently disappeared. The other prototype is now on display at the Aeronautical Museum of Vigna di Valle near Rome and the ground testbed is at the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan.
Data from Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft [4]
General characteristics
Performance
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