Caproni Ca.37

The Caproni Ca.37 was a ground attack aircraft designed and built in Italy by Caproni around 1916.

Design and development

During 1916 Caproni embarked on the design of a small light ground attack aircraft which followed the design philosophy of its much larger cousins the Ca.3 and Ca.4.<ref name="Abate"/>

File:Caproni Ca.37 02.png

3/4 rear view of the Ca.37

The Ca.37 followed the twin boom layout with central nacelle, which housed the tandem cockpits and the Template:Cvt Lancia Tipo 4 6-cylinder in-line piston engine, driving a 2-bladed pusher propeller. The tail-plane spanned across the two tail-booms and mounted two all-flying rudders for yaw control. Twin main-wheel units were strut mounted under each boom which also carried wooden tail-skids.<ref name="Abate"/>

The front cockpit was to house a gunner with a flexibly mounted machine-gun. Small bombs were also to be carried for trench attacks and anti-personnel attacks.<ref name="Abate"/>

Limited further development, in the form of streamlined pod and booms, was carried out as the Ca.38, but no production resulted.<ref name="Abate"/>

Variants

Ca.37

The sole Ca.37 prototype.

Ca.38

A new-build aircraft, or conversion of the sole Ca.37, with streamlined pod and booms for improved performance, but still no production orders.