The AUT T.18 was a prototype fighter aircraft developed in Italy by Aeronautica Umbra shortly before the outbreak of World War II.
Normally referred to as the AUT 18 or A.U.T 18, the companies schematics have it listed as AUT T.18 .
It was designed in 1934 by Felice Trojani, who at that time was collaborating with Umberto Nobile on the Arctic flights of the airships Norge and Italia.
The aircraft’s designation came from initials of the manufacturer, the surname of the designer, and the aircraft’s wing area (18 m²), the sole prototype receiving the serial no. M.M.363.
The fighter had an all metal stressed skin structure, covered in duralumin, featuring an inwardly-retracting undercarriage and retractable tailwheel and was armed with two 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine-guns mounted in the wings just outboard of the undercarriage.
Flight trials proved disappointing and lagged behind the other fighters of the Regia Aeronautica.
With no production orders forthcoming, despite the prototype being returned to the Umbra factory at Foligno for modifications on 20 February 1940 and a second flight test series from 5 November 1940, no improvement was demonstrated over fighters already in production so the A.U.T.18 was abandoned.
