CANT Z.1018 Leone

The CRDA CANT Z.1018 Leone was an Italian medium bomber of the 1940s.

The aircraft was designed in February 1939 by engineer Filippo Zappata to replace his previous creation, the Cant Z.1015.

In April a “flying mock-up” was already finished with the Alfa Romeo A135 engines, later replaced in favour of the Piaggio PXII engines (1350hp @ 3500m).

The development of the aircraft was constantly delayed,

It was also made difficult by the Regia Aeronautica’s requests for changes.

By the time of the Armistice only 23 aircraft were built.

The aircraft was built in 2 main versions.

Firstly the 1018 A, had a wooden structure,

While the second 1018 Leone 1 was of all metal structure and could be modified in the field to cover a variety of different roles

Bomber, torpedo bomber, heavy fighter.

The heavy fighter version was armed with 4 x 20mm Mg151 in a ventral pod and 4 x 12.7 forward fixed Breda machine guns.

Specifications

Length

17.6 m (57 ft 9 in)

Wingspan

22.5 m (73 ft 10 in)

Height

6.1 m (20 ft 0 in)

Wing area

63.1 m2 (679 sq ft)

Empty weight

8,800 kg (19,401 lb)

Powerplant

2 × Piaggio P.XII R.C.35 18 cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine,

890 kW (1,200 hp) each for take-off

1,350 hp (1,010 kW) at 3,500 m (11,500 ft)

Propellers

3-bladed constant-speed propellers

Performance

Maximum speed

524 km/h (326 mph, 283 kn)

Cruise speed

425 km/h (264 mph, 229 kn)

Stall speed

140 km/h (87 mph, 76 kn)

Range

1,335 km (830 mi, 721 nmi) at cruise at 5,450 m (17,880 ft)

Service ceiling

7,250 m (23,790 ft)

Time to altitude

4,000 m (13,000 ft) in 7 minutes 34 seconds; 6,000 m (20,000 ft) in 14 minutes 04 seconds

Armament

Guns

2 × 12.7 mm (0.500 in) Breda-SAFAT machine guns

+

2 × 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Breda-SAFAT machine-guns