Pomilio PE

Pomilio PE
Role	Two-seat armed reconnaissance biplane
Manufacturer	Pomilio
First flight	1917
Introduction	1917
Primary user	Regia Aeronautica
Number built	545 (PC and PD 1071 (PE)

The Pomilio PE was a First World War Italian armed reconnaissance biplane designed and built by the Pomilio brothers. It was developed from the earlier Pomilio PC and PD.

Development

The Pomilio brothers first armed reconnaissance biplane was the Pomilio PC which appeared in 1917. It was a conventional biplane of mixed construction with a fixed tailskid landing gear. It had two open cockpits in tandem and was powered by a nose-mounted 260 hp (194 kW) Fiat A.12 engine. It first entered service in 1917 and was found to dangerously unstable which led to an improved design the Pomilio PD. The PD had a revised engine cowling and to help with the stability a ventral fin. Production of both the PC and PD was 545 aircraft, mainly PDs.

A further improvement was the Pomilio PE which had a re-designed tail unit with an increase in area of both the fin and tailplane. It was also fitted with a more powerful variant of the Fiat A.12. Changes were made throughout the production run of 1071 aircraft with later aircraft fitted with synchronized forward-firing machine-guns as well as observer's Lewis machine gun.

Variants

Pomilio PC

Initial production variant

Pomilio PD

Modified production variant with ventral fin, 575 PC and PDs built.

Pomilio PE

Improved production variant with new tail unit and more powerful engine, 1071 built.

Operators

 Italy

• Regia Aeronautica

Specifications (PE)

Data from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing. pp. 2759. 

General characteristics

• Crew: 2 (pilot, observer)
• Length: 8.95 m (29 ft 4¼ in)
• Wingspan: 11.80 m (38 ft 8½ in)
• Height: 3.35 m (11 ft 0 in)
• Gross weight: 1535 kg (3384 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Fiat A.12bis six-cylinder inline piston engine, 224 kW (300 hp)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 195 km/h (121 mph)
• Endurance: 3 hours  30 min
• Service ceiling: 5000 m (16,405 ft)

Armament

• 1 x synchronised forward-firing 8 mm (0.315 in) Revelli machine-gun
• 1 or 2 x 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Lewis machine-gun on Scarff ring in rear cockpit

References

• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. 
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing. pp. 2759. 

Aircraft produced by Pomilio In Italy PE • Gamma In the United States BVL-12 • FVL-8

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