Caproni Campini N.1

Caproni Campini N.1
A Caproni Campini N.1 in flight. Note the canopies left open to cool down the cockpit.
Role Experimental
National origin Italy
Manufacturer Caproni
Designer Secondo Campini
First flight 27 August 1940
Status Prototypes only
Primary user Regia Aeronautica
Number built 2
Developed into Caproni Campini Ca.183bis

The Caproni Campini N.1, also known as the C.C.2, was an experimental aircraft built in the 1930s by Italian aircraft manufacturer Caproni. The N.1 was powered by a motorjet, a type of jet engine in which the compressor is driven by a conventional reciprocating engine. The N.1 first flew in 1940 and was briefly regarded as the first successful jet-powered aircraft in history, before news emerged of the German Heinkel He 178's first flight a year earlier.[1]

The project never lead to any operational use, and the motorjet design was soon superseded by the more powerful turbojet engine. Only one of the two examples of N.1 built survives today.

Design and development

In 1931, Italian engineer Secondo Campini submitted to the Regia Aeronautica (the then Italian air force) a report on the potential of jet propulsion, and the following year demonstrated a jet-powered boat in Venice. In 1934, the Regia Aeronautica granted approval for the development of two prototypes and a static testbed to demonstrate the principle of a jet aircraft. Lacking the necessary industrial infrastructure, Campini turned to the Caproni aircraft company for the manufacturing of the prototypes.[2]

The C.C.2 during a ground test, with the tail section removed. Note the lit burner within the airflow from the compressor.

Unlike modern-day gas turbines, in Campini's design the compressor – a three-stage, variable-incidence one, placed in front of the cockpit – was driven by a conventional piston engine, a 900 hp (670 kW), liquid-cooled Isotta Fraschini. The airflow from the compressor was then used to cool down the engine and then mixed with the engine's exhaust gases, thus recovering most of the heat energy that in traditional piston-propeller designs would be discharged overboard. A ring-shaped burner would then inject fuel into the gas flow and ignite it, immediately before the exhaust nozzle, to further increase thrust.[3]

The first two stages of the compressor of the C.C.2

In fact, the engine was able to provide sufficient thrust for flight even without activating the rear burner, making the design somehow similar to a ducted fan coupled with an afterburner.[4] Campini called this configuration thermojet, although it is commonly known as motorjet.[5]

However, despite the elaborate design, the relatively small size of the duct limited the mass flow and thus the propulsive efficiency of the engine. In modern designs this is offset through high overall pressure ratios, which could not be achieved on the N.1, therefore resulting in relatively low thrust and poor fuel efficiency.[6] Ground tests performed with the static testbed produced a thrust of around 700 kgf (1,500 lbf).[2]

Another problem encountered during flight testing was the large amount of engine heat entering the cockpit, which forced the crew to fly with the canopy always open.[4]

Operational history

The first flight, from the Caproni factory in Taliedo, near Milan, took place on 27 August 1940, with test pilot Mario De Bernardi, who would do most of the flying of the N.1, at the controls.[7] Since the first flight of the jet-powered Heinkel He 178, a year before to the day, at the time had not yet been made public, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale recorded the event as the first successful flight by a jet aeroplane.[2]

The N.1 overflying Piazza Venezia in Rome during its celebratory flight

On 30 November 1941, the second prototype was flown by pilot De Bernardi and engineer Giovanni Pedace from Milan's Linate Airport to Rome's Guidonia Airport, in a highly publicised event that included a fly-past over Rome and a reception with Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. The flight included a stopover at Pisa, possibly to refuel, and was conducted entirely without the use of the rear burner.[2][3]

At the end of World War II, one of the prototypes was transported to the United Kingdom for study at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough, and was subsequently lost.[2]

Operators

 Kingdom of Italy

Surviving aircraft

The only surviving C.C.2 at the Italian Air Force Museum

The only surviving prototype is now on display at the Italian Air Force Museum at Vigna di Valle, near Rome, while the ground testbed, consisting of only the fuselage, is on display at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan.

Specifications

Data from Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft [8]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Related lists

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Enzo Angelucci; Paolo Matricardi. Campini Caproni C.C.2 in Guida agli Aeroplani di tutto il Mondo. Mondadori Editore. Milano, 1979, Vol. 5, pp. 218-9.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Storia del Campini Caproni" (in Italian). National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci. Archived from the original on 15 July 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  3. 1 2 Smith, Geoffrey (19 February 1942). "More About Jet Propulsion". Flight. Vol. XLI no. 1730. p. 153. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Campini Caproni 2". Museo Storico di Vigna di Valle (in Italian). Aeronautic Militare Italiana. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  5. ↑ Pavelec, Sterling Michael (2007). The jet race and the Second World War (illustrated ed.). Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Security International. pp. 5–6, 41, 184. ISBN 0-275-99355-8. OCLC 74966612.
  6. ↑ Marc de Piolenc and George Wright, "Ducted Fan Design", Marc de Piolenc, 2001
  7. ↑ Italian "Air Scooter" Flight, 10 October 1952 p. 471
  8. ↑ Morse, Stan, ed. (1982). Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft. Orbis Publishing. OCLC 16544050.
Bibliography
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