The Aeronautica Lombarda A.R or simply A.R. da Assalto Radioguidato, also referred to as a Radio guided Assault Aircraft, was a medium wing semi remotely piloted bomber developed by the Italian company Aeronautica Lombarda in the early forties.
Designed by a working group directed by engineers Ermenegildo Preti and Stelio Frati to meet the need of the Regia Aeronautica to have an aerial bombing vehicle capable of operating within the enemy territory but with low costs, although approved and started to the series, it was blocked by the events related to the signing of the Armistice of Cassibile.
The aircraft was characterized by a completely wooden structure, with an ovoid section fuselage sloping towards the tail, made with a series of orderly and currents covered with heavy plywood panels, equipped with a simple and essential cockpit, closed by a fairing accessible through a trapdoor placed on the lower part and which allowed the pilot to launch with the task exhausted.
The structure integrated the fuel tank with a capacity of 700 L and the load compartment, positioned respectively behind and under the passenger compartment near the centre of gravity, the latter incorporating the two attachment points side by side for 1 000 kg drop bombs without empennage enclosed by a detachable tailgate.
Later it ended in an empennage with vertical and horizontal elements of large surfaces, identical in ribbing and with moving elements that insisted on their entire length.
The sail was a medium wing monoplane, a trapezoidal bilongherone characterized by evident tapering at the ends and a marked positive dihedral angle, a solution to ensure the greatest possible stability.
Given the impossibility of re-entry, it was equipped only with ailerons, since the hyper-supports useful in the landing manoeuvre were not necessary.
The trolley was fixed, equipped with cushioned force legs, characterized by a detachable structure after take-off at the command of the pilot and which, in the intentions of the designer, could thus be recovered and reused.
The propulsion was entrusted to a Fiat A.80 RC.41 engine, an air-cooled 18-cylinder double-star radial equipped with a gearbox interposed to the propeller and a compressor calibrated for a recovery altitude of 4 100 m, in that configuration delivering a power of 1 000 hp (735 kW).
Placed at the front apex of the fuselage and enclosed in a NACA canopy, it was combined with a three-blade propeller.
The only armament, given the particular nature of the operational use, consisted of the offensive one based on two drop devices of 1 000 kg each.
