Editing Caproni Ca.3

{{Short description|Italian heavy bomber of World War I and the postwar era}}
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{{More citations needed|date=December 2021}}
{{More footnotes|date=December 2021}}
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{{Infobox aircraft
 |name = Ca.3
 |image = File:Caproni Ca36 050309-F-1234P-003.jpg
 |caption = Caproni Ca.36 at the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]]
 |type = Heavy bomber
 |national_origin= [[Italy]]
 |manufacturer = [[Caproni]]
 |designer = 
 |first_flight = [[1916 in aviation|1916]]
 |introduction =
 |retired =
 |status =
 |primary_user = ''[[Regia Aeronautica]]''
 |more_users = ''[[Corpo Aeronautico Militare]]''
 |produced = 
 |number_built = 
 |variants = 
}}

The '''Caproni Ca.3''' is an Italian [[heavy bomber]] of [[World War I]] and the postwar era. It was the most produced version of the series of aircraft that began with the 1914 [[Caproni Ca.1 (1914)|Caproni Ca.1]] and continued until the more powerful 1917 [[Caproni Ca.5]] variant.

==Development==
[[File:Caproni Ca.33.jpg|thumb|Caproni Ca.33, c. 1920s]]
The development of the Ca.1 to the [[Caproni Ca.2|Ca.2]] suggested the benefits of increasing amounts of power to the very sound airframe. The Ca.3 was a development of Ca.2, by replacing the two engines mounted on the booms with the same Isotta-Fraschini engine that had been used as the central, [[Pusher configuration|pusher]] engine on that design. The prototype flew in late [[1916 in aviation|1916]] and was soon put into production. Known by Caproni at the time as the '''Caproni 450&nbsp;hp''', the Italian Army designated it the Ca.3. In Caproni's postwar renaming, it became the '''Ca.33'''. Between 250 and 300 of these aircraft were built, supplying the Italian Army and Navy (the latter using the type as a [[torpedo bomber]]), and the French Army. Late in the war, [[Robert Esnault-Pelterie]] licence-built an additional 83 (some sources say only 19) aircraft in France.

''Note: there is some variation in published sources over early Caproni names. The confusion stems, in part, from three schemes used to label the aircraft – Caproni's in-house designations of the time, those used by the Italian Army and names created after the war by Caproni for past designs.''{{cn|date=December 2021}}

==Design==
The Ca.3 was a three-engined [[biplane]] of wooden construction, with a fabric-covered frame. The crew of four were placed in an open central nacelle (front gunner, two pilots and rear gunner-mechanic). The rear gunner manned upper [[machine gun]]s, standing upon the central engine in a protective "cage" in front of a propeller. The fixed [[conventional undercarriage]] had double mainwheels under each engine and a tailskid under the extreme tail of each boom.  A substantial double nosewheel prevented damaging and dangerous nose-overs.

Armament consisted of two to four Revelli 6.5&nbsp;mm or 7.7&nbsp;mm machine guns, one in a front ring mount and one, two or sometimes even three in an upper ring mount. Bombs were suspended under the hull.

==Operational history==
[[File:Caproni Ca-33 VHM Piestany.jpg|thumb|Nose of the Caproni Ca.33 at Vojenské Historické Múzeum, Piešťany, Slovakia, 2007]]

The Ca.1 entered service with the Italian Army in the middle of 1915 and first saw action on 20 August, attacking the Austrian air base at [[Aisovizza]]. Fifteen bomber squadrons (1°–15° ''Squadriglia'') were eventually equipped with Ca.1, Ca.2 and Ca.3 bombers, mostly bombing targets in [[Austro-Hungary]]. The 12° ''Squadriglie'' operated in [[Libya]]. In 1918, the 3°, 14° and 15° ''Squadriglia'' operated in France.

Apart from the Italian Army, original and licence-built examples were used by France (original Capronis were used in French CAP ''escadres'', licence-built examples in CEP ''escadres''). They were also used by the [[American Expeditionary Force]]. There has been some confusion regarding the use of the Ca3 by the British [[Royal Naval Air Service]]. The RNAS received six of the larger triplane Ca4s and did not operate the Ca3.<ref>Kenneth Munson writing in Bombers 1914–19, Blandford 1968</ref> The British Ca4s were not used operationally and were returned to Italy after the war. Some of the Ca.36Ms supplied after the war were still in service long enough to see action in [[Benito Mussolini]]'s first assaults on North Africa.

==Variants==
''All of the following names were applied after the war. At the time, all were known as the 300&nbsp;hp by Caproni and the Ca.3 by the Army.''

*'''Ca.34''' and '''Ca.35''' with a modified central nacelle to seat the two pilots in tandem and therefore improve aerodynamics. No production.
* '''Ca.36''' with removable outer wing panels for ease of storage.
** '''Ca.36M''' or '''Ca.36 mod''' (for ''modificato'' – "modified") – a lightened and simplified variant put into production after the war. 153 were delivered between [[1923 in aviation|1923]] and [[1927 in aviation|1927]], 144 of them to the new Regia Aeronautica.
** '''Ca.36S''' – air ambulance version (small number converted from Ca.36Ms)
* '''Ca.39''' – [[seaplane]] version. Prototype CA 211.
* '''Ca.56a''' – [[airliner]]s created by remanufacturing war-surplus Ca.3s.

==Operators==
'''{{ARG}}'''
*[[Argentine Air Force]]
'''{{flag|Kingdom of Italy}}'''
*''[[Corpo Aeronautico Militare]]''
*''[[Regia Aeronautica]]''
'''{{FRA}}'''
*[[French Air Force]]
'''{{flag|USA|1912}}'''
*[[American Expeditionary Force]]

==Surviving aircraft and replicas==
[[File:Caproni CA.3 2009-06-06.jpg|thumb|Ca.36 at the [[Italian Air Force Museum]]]]

=== Italy ===
* Unknown ID – Ca.36 on static display at the [[Italian Air Force Museum]] in [[Bracciano|Bracciano, Lazio]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Caproni Ca.36 |url=http://www.aeronautica.difesa.it/museo_storico_eng/collezione_aeromobili/HangarTroster/Pagine/CaproniCa3.aspx |website=Ministero Della Difesa |accessdate=6 November 2016 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326203918/http://www.aeronautica.difesa.it/museo_storico_eng/collezione_aeromobili/HangarTroster/Pagine/CaproniCa3.aspx |archivedate=26 March 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Replica – Ca.33Z airworthy with the Jonathan Collection in [[Nervesa della Battaglia|Nervesa della Battaglia, Treviso]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Caproni Ca.33Z (1914) |url=http://www.jonathanaereistorici.it/news-e-eventi/item/29-caproni-ca-33z-1914.html |website=Fondazione Jonathan Collection |access-date=18 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Caproni Ca.3 |url=https://warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/replica-caproni-ca-3-bomber-stretches-her-legs.html |website=Warbirds News |date=10 February 2020 |accessdate=13 December 2021 }}</ref>

=== Slovakia ===
* Reproduction – Ca.33 on static display since June 2012 in the departure hall of [[M. R. Štefánik Airport]] in [[Bratislava]], on loan from the [[Vojenské historické muzeum]] in [[Piešťany|Piešťany, Trnava]].{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

=== United States ===
* Unknown ID – Ca.36 on static display at the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]] in [[Dayton, Ohio]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Caproni Ca. 36|url=https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/197396/caproni-ca-36/|website=National Museum of the US Air Force|access-date=6 November 2016|date=7 April 2015}}</ref>

==Specifications (Ca.36)==
{{Aircraft specs
|ref={{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}
|prime units?=met
<!--
        General characteristics
-->
|crew=four (pilot, co-pilot, front gunner, and rear gunner/mechanic)
|length m=11.05
|span m=22.74
|height m=3.7
|wing area sqm=95.6
|empty weight kg=2,300
|max takeoff weight kg=3,800
<!--
        Powerplant
-->
|eng1 number=3
|eng1 name=[[Isotta-Fraschini V.4B]]
|eng1 type=6-cyl. water-cooled in-line piston engines
|eng1 kw=112<!-- prop engines -->
<!--
        Performance
-->
|max speed kmh=137
|range km=600
|ceiling m=4,800
|climb rate ms=2
<!--
        Armament
-->
|armament=
2 × 6.5 mm '''or''' 7.7 mm [[Fiat-Revelli Modello 1914|FIAT-Revelli machine guns]]
*{{convert|800|kg|lb|abbr=on|0}} of bombs
}}

==See also==
{{Aircontent
|related=
* [[Caproni Ca.1 (1914)]]
* [[Caproni Ca.2]]
* [[Caproni Ca.5]]
|similar aircraft=
|lists=
* [[List of bomber aircraft]]
* [[List of World War I Entente aircraft]]
|see also=
* [[Push-pull configuration]]

}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-multi|Caproni Ca.3|Caproni Ca.36}}
* [http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/caproni3.htm Aircraft of the AEF – Caproni Ca.3]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040629164625/http://www.aerei-italiani.net/SchedeT/aereoca2.htm Aerei Italiani] (Italian)

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[[Category:Caproni aircraft|Ca.003]]
[[Category:1910s Italian bomber aircraft]]
[[Category:Three-engined push-pull aircraft]]
[[Category:Twin-boom aircraft]]
[[Category:Biplanes]]
[[Category:Aircraft first flown in 1916]]
[[Category:Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear]]
[[Category:Three-engined piston aircraft]]