Italy's Huge Bombing Triplane 



A machine which is intended 

 to do the work of heavy guns 



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Photo Bernard Levy 



The shock of landing is tremendous. Notice how solid are the wheels on which the machine alights, 

 how substantial is their frame and how carefully they have been placed to distribute the shock 



THE Popular Science Monthly has 

 already devoted space to the huge 

 Sikorsky biplane used by Russia 

 early in the war — a machine which had a 

 body almost as big and comfortable as a 

 Pullman car. German observers called it 

 slow and cumbrous. 



In spite of the disadvantages of such huge 

 machines, all the Powers have experimented 

 with them. Their chief merit is their load- 

 carrying capacity. Now comes Italy with 

 the Caproni type. According to Major R. 

 Perfetti, head of the Italian Aeronautical 

 Commission in the United States, the 

 Caproni climbs 3,250 feet in thirteen 

 minutes, 6,500 feet in twenty-seven minutes, 

 10,000 feet in sixty-seven minutes. It 

 carries three men, three shell guns, 7,500 

 pounds of bombs and fuel for six hours. 

 Its 900-horsepower engines drive it at a 

 maximum speed of eighty miles an hour. 



The Italians regard this huge bombing 

 plane optimistically as the equivalent, or 

 rather the superior of the long-range can- 

 non. To be sure, it can drop explosives far 

 beyond the range of the heaviest artillery; 

 but it must not be overlooked that bombs 

 cannot be dropped with the accuracy of 

 shells without exposing the machine. 



The Caproni is an object lesson. To 

 lift an enormous load, great wing surface 

 must be depended upon. A biplane is 

 impossible, because the span would be too 

 great. Hence, the Caproni is a triplane, 

 and even then the span is no less than one 

 hundred and ten feet. Carrying surface is 



thus obtained in a small compass and with 

 deeper and stronger trussing than would be 

 possible in a biplane. But that advantage 

 is purchased at the expense of head re- 

 sistance. Surface cannot be piled on sur- 

 face without paying the price in power. 



The distribution of the planes in three 

 decks was not enough. In order that the 

 immense structure might be solid as a 

 whole and yet not too heavy, power must 

 be generated by three engines, because 

 three engines can be distributed. Each of 

 these engines is of three hundred horse- 

 power. The distribution of the engines 

 over a full third of the wing span lowers 

 by that much the leverage of the weight on 

 the truss. Since irregularly shaped masses 

 as they move through the air exert a con- 

 siderable retarding effect, each engine is, of 

 course, enclosed in a long steam line body. 

 The middle body is the shortest; hence its 

 three-bladed propeller is mounted in the 

 rear. The two outer bodies have two- 

 bladed front propellers. 



These two outer bodies hold the tail 

 between them far more rigidly than would 

 be possible in single-fuselage construction. 



Curtiss in his small fast triplane in- 

 geniously showed that it was possible to use 

 only three struts on account of their in- 

 herent strength and that the head resistance 

 increases with the number of struts. 



The latest warplanes with their high land- 

 ing speeds, are plainly expected to land only 

 at carefully prepared grounds. That policy 

 removes a grave objection to mere size. 



