Caproni Ca.331
| Caproni Ca.331 Raffica | |
|---|---|
 |
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| The first Caproni Vizzola Ca.331, completed as the Ca.331 O.A. (Osservazione Area) reconnaissance aircraft prototype. | |
| Role | Reconnaissance aircraft, bomber, and night fighter |
| National origin | Italy |
| Manufacturer | Caproni |
| Designer | Ing Cesare Pallavacino |
| First flight | Ca.331 O.A.: 31 August 1940 Ca331 C.N.: Summer 1942 |
| Primary user | Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) |
| Number built | 3 |
The Caproni Ca.331 Raffica ("Gust of Wind" or "Fire Burst") was an Italian aircraft built by Caproni in the early 1940s as a tactical reconnaissance aircraft/light bomber and also as a night fighter.
In response to a 1938 Italian Air Ministry requirement for a new tactical reconnaissance aircraft with combat capability, Ing Cesare Pallavacino of the Caproni company's Caproni Bergamaschi subsidiary began the design of the Ca.331 O.A. (O.A. standing for Osservazione Area, Italian for "Area Observation"), also designated Ca.331A, in October 1938. It was innovative for Caproni in being of all-metal construction. The Ca.331 O.A. prototype, a twin-engine low-wing monoplane with an unstepped cockpit and glazed nose, had duralumin stressed skin on both its fuselage and wings, and its wings were of an inverted gull-wing configuration. It had two Isotta-Fraschini Delta RC.40 engines rated at 574 kilowatts (770 horsepower) each. The aircraft employed a three-man crew of pilot, observer/gunner, and radioman/gunner, and was armed with four 12.7-millimeter (0.5-inch) Breda-SAFAT machine guns—two of them in fixed mounts in the wing roots firing forward, one in a dorsal turret, and one in a ventral mount. The Ca.331 O.A. also had a bomb bay capable of carrying up to 1,000 kilograms (2,205 pounds) of bombs and four external bomb racks under its wings.
The Ca.331 O.A. prototype first flew on 31 August 1940, at Ponte San Pietro with Caproni test pilot Ettore Wengi at the controls. Its original Piaggio propellers proved inadequate, but their replacement with Alfa Romeo-built propellers in 1941 resulted in the aircraft having improved performance which, in fact, exceeded expectations. In 1941, Caproni Bergamaschi delivered the prototype to the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force), which began official tests at Guidonia Montecelio with good results. However, the Regia Aeronautica handed the aircraft back to Caproni Bergamaschi without a production order. The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) then requested control of the aircraft for trials at its test center at Rechlin in Germany. Although the Luftwaffe was impressed with the aircraft—probably more so than the Italians—no German order for it resulted.
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