The Caproni Ca.4 was an Italian heavy bomber of the World War I era.
After designing the successful Ca.3, Gianni Caproni of the Caproni works designed a much bigger aircraft.
It shared the unusual layout of the Caproni Ca.3, being a twin boom aircraft with one pusher engine at the rear of a central nacelle and two tractor engines in front of twin booms, providing a push-pull configuration.
The twin booms carried a single elevator and three fins.
The main landing gear was fixed and consisted of two sets of four wheels each.
The huge new bomber was accepted by the Italian Army under the military designation Ca.4, but it was produced in several variants, differing in factory designations.
Caproni Ca.40
Single prototype.
Caproni Ca.41
Production variant, essentially similar to the prototype and powered by three Fiat A.12 inline engines of 210 kW (280 hp).
A few Ca.41s were powered by 186 kW (249 hp) Isotta Fraschini engines instead.
These were referred to internally by Caproni as the Caproni 750 hp. A total of 41 were built.
Caproni Ca.42
Powered by 298 kW (400 hp) Liberty V-12 engines and known internally as the Caproni 1,200 hp.
Caproni Ca.43
Single example of a floatplane variant.
Caproni Ca.48
Airliners converted from Ca.42s after World War I
The Ca.48 first flew in 1919.
The double-deck passenger cabin mounted between the booms seated a total of 23 passengers who entered via the nose nacelle; 16 of them sat in the lower cabin on long benches alongside its walls with large windows providing them with good views, and the other seven passengers sat on an upper deck, as did the pilots.
The Ca.48 was powered by three 298 kW (400 hp) Liberty L-12 engines.
Caproni Ca.51
Single example of a considerably enlarged design with biplane tail and tail barbette.
Three × 522 kW (700 hp) Fiat A.14 engines.
Caproni Ca.52
Ca.42s built for the RNAS.
Caproni Ca.58 / Caproni Cinquemotore
A variant of the Ca 48 airliner was built powered by five 186 kW (249 hp) engines, the outer engines in pusher nacelles.
Caproni Ca.59
As for the Ca.58, but this designation used for customers outside Italy.
Specifications
Crew
4
Length
13.1 m (43 ft 0 in)
Wingspan
29.9 m (98 ft 1 in)
Height
6.3 m (20 ft 8 in)
Wing area
200 m2 (2,200 sq ft)
Empty weight
6,709 kg (14,791 lb)
Max take-off weight
7,500 kg (16,535 lb)
Powerplant
3 × Liberty L-12 V-12 water-cooled piston engines,
298 kW (400 hp) each
Performance
Maximum speed
140 km/h (87 mph, 76 kn)
Range
700 km (430 mi, 380 nmi)
Service ceiling
3,000 m (9,800 ft)
Rate of climb
2.083 m/s (410.0 ft/min)
Armament
Guns
4 × 6.5 mm FIAT-Revelli machine guns, two in forward mounting and one in each of two rearward positions.
