F.A.Q Section :D Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both. Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos? A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studios (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips, but right now they are outside my budget :) Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators? A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible. Feel free to leave you questions below - I may not be able to answer all of them, but I will keep my eyes open :)
I've asked you this before but can you cover the TB-3 and/or the TB-1? If you collect enough questions you should do a monthly Q&A video called the Airshow or Hanger.
Eventually, you'll have to cover the fokker tri-plane, if only because everyone knows it as the Red Baron's plane and will likely request it. You could merge it together with also being a video that is about the Red Baron himself.
Aircraft design back then was The Wild West. Amazing the many paths designers took, some that from our perspective look completely insane but at the time were the cutting edge of innovation. You certainly can't fault them for not trying everything.
It's kind of fitting for the time period to be honest, so many things we have daily use for now we're so radically new and with so many new pieces of technology coming available after the turn of the century. There was bound to be some crazy designs/ideas, part of the reason for them being aviation pioneers. Doing the things no one had before
Except he was an animator and wrote,storyboarded and Directed many of his own films unlike Walt. Toei studio was considered Disney of the East which included little control of artists
Caproni "back" to world's attention, against the "cancellation" he suffered for supplying airplanes to the italian air force (regia aeronautica) during the war. As if he had any choice. Before the war, he was universally known and respected both in Europe and America as an aviation pioneer. After the war, leftist governments ruined him, closed his factories, let go all manpower. Power of ideology.
Only just watched The Wind Rises - what a coincidence! My daughter glanced at the video and said "that looks like that plane in the film", and then she saw the designer and cried out "that's him! That's him!" (he appears in several dream sequences in the film). A very strange moment! The film is very worth watching - as are all films from that studio. This one isn't actually my favourite (although still very good), but if you're more into planes than animé you might disagree with me! If memory serves it was the studio's most successful film and was nominated for an Oscar.
So Your daughter lived in her former live in Italy! Please ask her more about her former live! I can remember my 3 lives bevor! Greetings from Linz-Austria🇦🇹😎👍🌞✌️💪🍺🐺 Europe!
Since I was a kid I've always loved Caproni's aeronautical industries, I've been to their museum multiple times in wich it's stored the only remains of a reggiane 2005.
As the owner and pilot of one of the few remaining Caproni designs - the A21S ‘Calif’ - I really appreciate any documentation about the history of this company’s planes.
Thanks for bring this back in attention. Caproni made great but special designs in it's time . Remember it was just 25 years before this they found out how to fly.
Wow, what a beast. Interesting fuel layout, all those tanks with a heap right at the extreme nose may have needed careful management to keep trim in line. Plus that poor nose gunner, basically sitting on a veritable warehouse of very flammable liquid, while operating a gun!
The irony is that it is planes like this that are thought to have inspired Mussolini to overestimate the potential of Italian military technology, especially the aircraft. The outstanding ability of some Italian engineers to push the bounds of Human potential was indeed impressive, but Italy always seemed to have a distinct shortage of entrepreneurs and engineers with an equal talent for mass-production. Thus, the marvels so often failed to be made in numbers of consequence. Thankfully, there are enough amateurs with the passion to remember these marvels for us, such as this channel and Studio Ghibli, giving a chance for them to fly again if only in our imaginations.
What really made the whole High Command overestimate our military technology was mainly the success of the C.R.32 against the I-15 and I-16 during the spanish civil war. Anyways, it was not mainly a matter of overestimating. Technology was not that bad (biplane fighters were roughly equivalent to the british ones, same for monoplane fighters, torpedo bombers were probably better), but you can’t compete with an Alliance who holds 70% of world’s industrial power when you barely hold 1%.
@@AdamMGTF I should mention that this concept is something mentioned in the oblique by many writers on the Italian Economy during the Interwar Period and the War itself, rather than a thesis dealt with in depth on its own so far as I know. That said, if you are inclined, any number of writings such as The Oxford Handbook of the Italian Economy Since Unification or Gregor'sItalian Fascism and Developmental Dictatorship are worth a gander if you want to take that tack. I also recommend Knox's book "Hitler's Italian Allies." Again, it only deals with the idea in the oblique, but it is something more accessible than many articles which are generally locked behind periodical databases which I don't have access to anymore.
A lot of times there also wasn't an interest into said projects by the Italian government, an italian guy literally invented the first aerial torpedo during WWI (Gaetano Arturo Crocco's Aerosiluro) and the government simply didn't give a fuck, so it was abandoned, the British copied it and developed it further, while this project together with another invention of Crocco, the "Telebomba" also developed in WW1, were then bought by the US in the mid 20s The decision by the Italian govt. to switch to radials in the mid 30s (they coinsidered inline engines to be too vulnerable to combat damage) also hurt the italian aeronautical industry quite a lot, because up until that point, while italian inline engines were among the best in the world, there wasn't really much experience on radials in Italy, so manufacturers had to buy licenses from US, UK and France so they could learn more But those countries were already developing the next generation of radial engines, which were much more powerful and reliable, so Italy, which would enter WW2 in about 4 years, with Mussolini being clueless about Hitler's plans, and not too worried about re-modernizing the army since he had just done so a few years prior, well, kinda got screwed lol
Keep pushing out great content, i love watching it and learning so much from you, the BV 238 is a very interesting aircraft, im sure its on your list but if it isnt please put it on there, thank you
+1 for "The Wind Rises" - perhaps my favorite aviation movie in the category of "few have ever heard of." I do wonder about the rationale for two-bladed props for the tractor engines and four-bladed for the pushers. Maybe four up front disrupted the airflow over the rear engine/props too much?
Probably so. Some pilots and aircraft designers still argue that Cessna Skymaster had been a technically and economically better plane with only the push engine, the pull engine substituted with more powerful main engine, payload and fuel. Plus better cooling for the rear engine. ; )
Is there any record of what happened to it? Did rot in a field? Was it disassembled for parts/scrap? Did it crash somewhere? Did it just disappear & the mystery still remains of what happened to the world's largest biplane?
As a rough guide to determine the aircrafts size, if the guy photographed standing next to aircrafts landing wheels was of average hight for a 1920s male, that is 5'7" this with some imagine could view the relitive side of the
You look at the thumbnail for this video and a tiny portion of your brain doubts the veracity of what you’re staring at. You wonder IF it’s been photoshopped (even though you KNOW Rex’s Hangar would never stoop so low). Then you watch the spiffingly excellent video, slack jawed, mouth gaping. It’s real. It’s all real…!!! I’ve been an aviation buff all my life, but I heard very little about Caproni. Thank you Rex, for adding more knowledge to a person who thought he’d seen it all - your hard work and excellent detailed productions are highly appreciated.
The average height of a European male of the period the Ca90 was built, is 5'7". I can't, but perhaps other people can, use that reference to determine a rough guide to the size of this particular aircraft type. In any event, the Ca90 still looks an impressive size, but because of the payload they carry, bombers often are.
Caproni seems to have designed aircraft perfect for films by Studio Ghibli I am thing of The Wind Rises and the panes from Porco Rosso seemed to be his style of designs
I believe Porco's plane was based on a Macchi design by a bloke called Castoldi, I couldn't say how much influence Caproni held in other Italian companies at the time But Savoia, Macchi, they were all making gorgeous racers in the late teens, 20s.
@@Horizontalvertigo Maybe not just Porco's plane but some of the others are familiar I am thinking of the plane with the tourists hanging out of it..Time I am thing to watch again
@@unknowntraveller8633 I can't rule out there are some caproni among the minor roles. There was definitely somewhat one in the closing scene. The modern, apparently jet powered, seaplane looks to be inspired by Caproni C-22, although land based. Also the name "Ghibli" was likely taken from Caproni Ca.309 "Ghibli", a 2 engined recon/liason/light bomber aircraft of a serie of closely related models including also Ca.310/311/312/313/314, they were almost variants of the same model with different noses(metal nose, glass nose, glass streamlined) and different engines(like Radial and V12) nicknamed after winds.
Since being a little kid, I've had an interest in Aircraft, Automobiles, and Ships. Military and civilian. An interest that was wide, but nevertheless has never been deep in technical detail. I guess my interest in just how they look: their design features, may to a real enthusiast, seem shallow. Yet, design aesthetics are hugely important not just for the reasons that allow these machines to function as they've been designed to do. Aero dynamics are vital for an aircraft to be be an aircraft, but some can appear more pleasing to the eye than others. My own enjoyment of aviation channels such as host Rex works hard to produce play an important part, irreplaceable, part in my enjoyment of historic aviation. So let me say a big thank you for the behind the scenes work required to bring these programs to air. Thank you.
It's a good -looking plane. The engine config seems dated for 1929. Fighters like the P26 would have eaten it for breakfast. But a fascinating era, all the same. Thanks for this Mr. Rex...
I’m not so sure, the P-26 only had two .30 cals and one .50 cal. The Ca-90 had plenty of defensive weapons and in a hypothetical war situation in the late 20’s/early 30’s would have probably entered combat with escort fighters or been flown at night, rather like the heavy bombers which went to war a little over a decade later.
1 year late but not at all, the p26 was armed with 7mm mgs, 2 of them, and a variant had a 7mm and a 50 cal, the p26 would have gotten its cheeks clapped before it caused any significant damage to this plane
Absolutely not. The P26 did not exist in 1929. The P26 only made its first flight 20 March 1932, with the first Peashooter reaching squadron service as late as December 1933. The P26´s peak service being six squadrons, in 1936.
Talking of Aircraft requests, can you do an episode on the Transavia Airtruk? It was made in I factory on station road Seven Hills in Sydney, and me and my friend used to watch them take off from the test strip behind the factory from the vantage point of his home on one of the said Hills. Many thanks Rex.
Incredible! And also a plane that I don't think that I'd ever heard of! And yet -.such a technical success. For a biplane it also didn't look that ungainly, so he obviously learned from he earlier projects. I was going to call "foul!" on the claimed 35' height, until I noticed that this was to the top of the fuselage, not the wing. The complete plane was closer to 7 stories high! Thanks for sharing this story!
Little known but during the last years of WWI , lacking previous experience, the american pilots were trained in UK, France and Italy before going to combat units. There were 2 training centers In italy, one for seaplane pilots of US Navy on Lake Bolsena and one in Foggia for land-based pilots. In Foggia about 500 american pilots were trained as heavy bomber pilots, all these were trained on Ca.3. Many of these went to serve on Western front in France/Belgium while 75 stayed to serve on the Italian front, among these pilots there was Fiorello LaGuardia. On the Italian front the Americans were intermixed with Italians in the more experienced italian units where they flew italian heavy bombers. These units were mainly equipped with Ca.3 (aka Ca.31 to 36, the biplane heavy bomber briefly shown in this video) but also Ca.4 (aka Ca.40 to 43, triplane heavy bomber) and at the very end also some Ca.5(aka Ca.44 to 46). The importance of Ca.3 for US air services is testified by the fact that of the 2 original planes preserved today, both Ca.36, one is preserved in Italian Air Force Museum near Rome, the other one in USAF museum in Dayton Ohio. Ca.3's were ordered and even license-built by USA and France, Served in French, American and even British units before the british could replace them with enough Handley Page type O. Also the Ca.4 served in US and British(royal navy) units on western front. Also some italian units were transferred to the Western Front, they seldom saw action in conjunction with the french units equipped with the same plane during strategic long-range raids over Cologne, Stuttgard and Friedrichshafen(600km deep into enemy territory!). There is also an amazing airworthy Ca.3 replica(rebuilt from original plans) in Italy, based literally a couple hundred meters from the Piave river(once the front). ruclips.net/video/Jh0yt_EytNY/видео.html
The original factory where it was built, "Caproni Vizzola Ticino" has become an aerospace museum that is literally "next door neighbour" with the international airport Milano Malpensa MXP. In the museum there are the few remainings of the Ca.90. (I remember a propeller, maybe a tyre) all the rest was scrapped for materials from what I can recall.
G'day, Yay Team ! Congratulations mate, I started reading Aeroplane (Monthly) magazine in 1973, the Newsagent puts it aside for me, still... ; and you have with this one successfully shown me a Hairygoplane - a bloody huge great big old Biplane no less, the (one time) existance of which I was unaware...! Well done, olde Bean ; ya got me ! Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
What is the aeronautical thinking behind sesquiplane wing designs? Does the larger lower wing provide most of the wing loading allowing the shorter upper wing to provide extra lift? The Caproni museum in Trento is excellent and well worth a visit.
I think i read that two wings only provide 20% more lift, so possibly this is an optimisation for that. Though that number is propably too specific without context. What surprised me most is the lower wing being the bigger- afaik, most sesquiplanes had a smaller bottom wing.
Between this and that nine-winged flying strip mall they came up with, I'm starting to wonder if somebody at Caproni accidentally used the wrong measurement units and planes went into production before anyone picked up on the mistake. 😉
@@Desmaadi'm happy to report pratchett's characters remain recognisable in german :) (where he is called "Absolut bekoppter Johnson", absolutely mad Johnson)
Food for thought - Giovanni Battista Caproni died on October 27, 1957. In his life time he'd seen the advent of powered flight and its progress from the Wright flyer through his own bi-planes to the jet age. Had he lived another 2 months he'd have been alive for the first flight of the Boeing 707 on December 20, 1957... Amazing how fast technology moved.
Thank- you, fascinating,I only saw a Gypsy Moth lookalike he built.Would have been a hand & footfull,in crosswind! I admired Handley Page Heracles etc pilots flying continents in large biplanes,and Alcock& Brown in open Vimy Brave Men
"...some viewed it in the same manner as we view nuclear weapons today..." Now that's what I call a reassuring approach! Just wait for it, not lost, just delayed :)
In this case the pusher props would be turning in the wake of the tractor props, hence they would lose efficiency because of aerodynamic interference. So a four blade propeller makes sense to extract as much thrust as possible from the engine and propeller combination.
All through this I was thinking "it's a good thing they never made Carry On Flying". I can just imagine Barbara Windsor going, "Ooh! It's a BIG one. It won't fit... in the hangar I mean".
Rumor has it a Sopwith Camel got sucked into the fuselage through the cockpit accidentally. After flying around inside the Ca90 for over 30 minutes looking for a way out, the pilot in a desperate attempt managed to escape through the toilet.
![The Giant Airliner With Cabins In Its Wings | Junkers G38 [Aircraft Overview #19]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5uFNOtsucKE/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Giant Airliner With Cabins In Its Wings | Junkers G38 [Aircraft Overview #19]](/img/tr.png)
![Russia's Monster Plane That Actually Flew | Kalinin K-7 [Aircraft Overview #11]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/44vniEeXmn8/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Soviet Bomber That Was Utterly Bonkers | Tupolev TB-3 [Historical Deep-Dive]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/b0g8HiAbNAE/mqdefault.jpg)
F.A.Q Section :D
Q: Do you take aircraft requests?
A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:)
Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others?
A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both.
Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos?
A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studios (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips, but right now they are outside my budget :)
Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators?
A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.
Feel free to leave you questions below - I may not be able to answer all of them, but I will keep my eyes open :)
Give us an airship overview 🙌 or a classic bush pane overview
Handley Page HP42
I've asked you this before but can you cover the TB-3 and/or the TB-1?
If you collect enough questions you should do a monthly Q&A video called the Airshow or Hanger.
Eventually, you'll have to cover the fokker tri-plane, if only because everyone knows it as the Red Baron's plane and will likely request it. You could merge it together with also being a video that is about the Red Baron himself.
How about Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII? Isn't it had larger wingspan (48 m)? Would you kindly cover that?
Aircraft design back then was The Wild West. Amazing the many paths designers took, some that from our perspective look completely insane but at the time were the cutting edge of innovation. You certainly can't fault them for not trying everything.
They would even, metaphorically, circle the wagons.
It's kind of fitting for the time period to be honest, so many things we have daily use for now we're so radically new and with so many new pieces of technology coming available after the turn of the century. There was bound to be some crazy designs/ideas, part of the reason for them being aviation pioneers.
Doing the things no one had before
Indeed, hindsight is 20/20 after all.
Rex M....... Could you explain how aircraft design in the early 1900s was "the wild west".
I'd like to understand the analogy
Caproni was also a madlad
We have a lot to thank Myazaki for and one of them is bringing Caproni to the world's attention.
Miyazaki is the Walt Disney of Japan. He will go down as one of the greats in animation on the level of Disney.
Except he was an animator and wrote,storyboarded and Directed many of his own films unlike Walt.
Toei studio was considered Disney of the East which included little control of artists
Caproni "back" to world's attention, against the "cancellation" he suffered for supplying airplanes to the italian air force (regia aeronautica) during the war.
As if he had any choice.
Before the war, he was universally known and respected both in Europe and America as an aviation pioneer.
After the war, leftist governments ruined him, closed his factories, let go all manpower.
Power of ideology.
Only just watched The Wind Rises - what a coincidence! My daughter glanced at the video and said "that looks like that plane in the film", and then she saw the designer and cried out "that's him! That's him!" (he appears in several dream sequences in the film). A very strange moment! The film is very worth watching - as are all films from that studio. This one isn't actually my favourite (although still very good), but if you're more into planes than animé you might disagree with me! If memory serves it was the studio's most successful film and was nominated for an Oscar.
Me too, just watched the film
Hayao Miyazaki film Porco Rosso (1992) has several aircraft that this aircraft reminds me of.
thanks for the recommendation!
The Wind Rises is good, but Porco Rosso will always be my favourite
So Your daughter lived in her former live in Italy! Please ask her more about her former live! I can remember my 3 lives bevor! Greetings from Linz-Austria🇦🇹😎👍🌞✌️💪🍺🐺 Europe!
Since I was a kid I've always loved Caproni's aeronautical industries, I've been to their museum multiple times in wich it's stored the only remains of a reggiane 2005.
As the owner and pilot of one of the few remaining Caproni designs - the A21S ‘Calif’ - I really appreciate any documentation about the history of this company’s planes.
Thanks for bring this back in attention. Caproni made great but special designs in it's time . Remember it was just 25 years before this they found out how to fly.
I had absolutely no idea that this aircraft existed. Fantastic video Rex! Great job :D
2000km range was phenomenal. Thanks for sharing!
Wow, what a beast. Interesting fuel layout, all those tanks with a heap right at the extreme nose may have needed careful management to keep trim in line. Plus that poor nose gunner, basically sitting on a veritable warehouse of very flammable liquid, while operating a gun!
I was looking at that too. It wouldn't be any fun if he had to jump out with those big egg-beaters right there, LOL....
The crew was entirely surrounded by fuel… Crazy idea for a war plane.
@@0cer0.... Messerschmitt Komet 😬
I think the Hawker Hurricane had a fuel tank essentially over the pilot's knees, didn't it?
Really love these obscure early planes, the engineering behind them is super interesting and they just look cool.
The irony is that it is planes like this that are thought to have inspired Mussolini to overestimate the potential of Italian military technology, especially the aircraft. The outstanding ability of some Italian engineers to push the bounds of Human potential was indeed impressive, but Italy always seemed to have a distinct shortage of entrepreneurs and engineers with an equal talent for mass-production. Thus, the marvels so often failed to be made in numbers of consequence. Thankfully, there are enough amateurs with the passion to remember these marvels for us, such as this channel and Studio Ghibli, giving a chance for them to fly again if only in our imaginations.
What really made the whole High Command overestimate our military technology was mainly the success of the C.R.32 against the I-15 and I-16 during the spanish civil war. Anyways, it was not mainly a matter of overestimating. Technology was not that bad (biplane fighters were roughly equivalent to the british ones, same for monoplane fighters, torpedo bombers were probably better), but you can’t compete with an Alliance who holds 70% of world’s industrial power when you barely hold 1%.
Do you have some sources I could read? Would be fascinating! Please reply
@@AdamMGTF I should mention that this concept is something mentioned in the oblique by many writers on the Italian Economy during the Interwar Period and the War itself, rather than a thesis dealt with in depth on its own so far as I know. That said, if you are inclined, any number of writings such as The Oxford Handbook of the Italian Economy Since Unification or Gregor'sItalian Fascism and Developmental Dictatorship are worth a gander if you want to take that tack.
I also recommend Knox's book "Hitler's Italian Allies." Again, it only deals with the idea in the oblique, but it is something more accessible than many articles which are generally locked behind periodical databases which I don't have access to anymore.
@@Vespa-Due true,the axis biggest mistake was that they started a war that they could never win
A lot of times there also wasn't an interest into said projects by the Italian government, an italian guy literally invented the first aerial torpedo during WWI (Gaetano Arturo Crocco's Aerosiluro) and the government simply didn't give a fuck, so it was abandoned, the British copied it and developed it further, while this project together with another invention of Crocco, the "Telebomba" also developed in WW1, were then bought by the US in the mid 20s
The decision by the Italian govt. to switch to radials in the mid 30s (they coinsidered inline engines to be too vulnerable to combat damage) also hurt the italian aeronautical industry quite a lot, because up until that point, while italian inline engines were among the best in the world, there wasn't really much experience on radials in Italy, so manufacturers had to buy licenses from US, UK and France so they could learn more
But those countries were already developing the next generation of radial engines, which were much more powerful and reliable, so Italy, which would enter WW2 in about 4 years, with Mussolini being clueless about Hitler's plans, and not too worried about re-modernizing the army since he had just done so a few years prior, well, kinda got screwed lol
"Mostly forgotten by history". Yeah, that's why I watch your channel, and many, many thanks for it.
Keep pushing out great content, i love watching it and learning so much from you, the BV 238 is a very interesting aircraft, im sure its on your list but if it isnt please put it on there, thank you
+1 for "The Wind Rises" - perhaps my favorite aviation movie in the category of "few have ever heard of."
I do wonder about the rationale for two-bladed props for the tractor engines and four-bladed for the pushers. Maybe four up front disrupted the airflow over the rear engine/props too much?
Probably so. Some pilots and aircraft designers still argue that Cessna Skymaster had been a technically and economically better plane with only the push engine, the pull engine substituted with more powerful main engine, payload and fuel. Plus better cooling for the rear engine. ; )
I can only imagine the effect this had on people seeing it for the first time. It must be like us seeing a NASA launch ! Just WOW
I had no idea aircraft engines in the nineteen twenty’s could produce 1,000hp. That’s very impressive.
and 16 liter, too. Marine-sized engines, it seems.
Mr Caproni had a brain, I can just imagine the immense challenges he faced.
You have to admire the Italians as designers and engineers.
now this, this is the content I subscribed for and this is an amazing video, thanks so much for making it Rex
Super work and attention to detail - that is a monster of a biplane! Wow...
Is there any record of what happened to it? Did rot in a field? Was it disassembled for parts/scrap? Did it crash somewhere? Did it just disappear & the mystery still remains of what happened to the world's largest biplane?
A Google search found no mention of what became of it.
most probably became the victim of an insurance scam
@@madhukarjonathanminj2772
Or possibly a moderately reliable weather forecast, as destroyed so many aircraft back then.
I keep looking at the people in the pics, trying to wrap my mind around the scale of that thing.
Awesome work.
As a rough guide to determine the aircrafts size, if the guy photographed standing next to aircrafts landing wheels was of average hight for a 1920s male, that is 5'7" this with some imagine could view the relitive side of the
You look at the thumbnail for this video and a tiny portion of your brain doubts the veracity of what you’re staring at. You wonder IF it’s been photoshopped (even though you KNOW Rex’s Hangar would never stoop so low).
Then you watch the spiffingly excellent video, slack jawed, mouth gaping.
It’s real. It’s all real…!!!
I’ve been an aviation buff all my life, but I heard very little about Caproni.
Thank you Rex, for adding more knowledge to a person who thought he’d seen it all - your hard work and excellent detailed productions are highly appreciated.
That is one impressive aeroplane, especially when you see the men standing beside it.
The average height of a European male of the period the Ca90 was built, is 5'7".
I can't, but perhaps other people can, use that reference to determine a rough guide to the size of this particular aircraft type.
In any event, the Ca90 still looks an impressive size, but because of the payload they carry, bombers often are.
Caproni seems to have designed aircraft perfect for films by Studio Ghibli I am thing of The Wind Rises and the panes from Porco Rosso seemed to be his style of designs
I believe Porco's plane was based on a Macchi design by a bloke called Castoldi, I couldn't say how much influence Caproni held in other Italian companies at the time
But Savoia, Macchi, they were all making gorgeous racers in the late teens, 20s.
@@Horizontalvertigo Maybe not just Porco's plane but some of the others are familiar I am thinking of the plane with the tourists hanging out of it..Time I am thing to watch again
@@unknowntraveller8633 I can't rule out there are some caproni among the minor roles. There was definitely somewhat one in the closing scene. The modern, apparently jet powered, seaplane looks to be inspired by Caproni C-22, although land based.
Also the name "Ghibli" was likely taken from Caproni Ca.309 "Ghibli", a 2 engined recon/liason/light bomber aircraft of a serie of closely related models including also Ca.310/311/312/313/314, they were almost variants of the same model with different noses(metal nose, glass nose, glass streamlined) and different engines(like Radial and V12) nicknamed after winds.
Since being a little kid, I've had an interest in Aircraft, Automobiles, and Ships. Military and civilian. An interest that was wide, but nevertheless has never been deep in technical detail. I guess my interest in just how they look: their design features, may to a real enthusiast, seem shallow. Yet, design aesthetics are hugely important not just for the reasons that allow these machines to function as they've been designed to do.
Aero dynamics are vital for an aircraft to be be an aircraft, but some can appear more pleasing to the eye than others.
My own enjoyment of aviation channels such as host Rex works hard to produce play an important part, irreplaceable, part in my enjoyment of historic aviation.
So let me say a big thank you for the behind the scenes work required to bring these programs to air. Thank you.
Brilliant plane. I love your interwar stuff, Rex. Topnotch.
What a whopper - I mean I like my Gotha and HP in Rise of Flight but that thing just makes them look like trainer aircraft! Nice video as always sir.
Very good video of an aircraft that I had never heard of.
I love how you now have several views covering absolute behoths of planes
Can't imagine what a shock-and-awe impression this made in it's day!! It's impressive even today!!
A Great Little Video... Thanks for Sharing. Sad that so many Brilliant Designs Never Made it to Production
The Level of Craziness Rising
Nothing crazy but truly daring pioneering. Aviation had to begin somewhere. The 20s were roaring for more than one reason.
Great video. So informative. You've just gained yourself another subscriber 😉
It's a good -looking plane. The engine config seems dated for 1929. Fighters like the P26 would have eaten it for breakfast. But a fascinating era, all the same. Thanks for this Mr. Rex...
I’m not so sure, the P-26 only had two .30 cals and one .50 cal. The Ca-90 had plenty of defensive weapons and in a hypothetical war situation in the late 20’s/early 30’s would have probably entered combat with escort fighters or been flown at night, rather like the heavy bombers which went to war a little over a decade later.
1 year late but not at all, the p26 was armed with 7mm mgs, 2 of them, and a variant had a 7mm and a 50 cal, the p26 would have gotten its cheeks clapped before it caused any significant damage to this plane
Absolutely not. The P26 did not exist in 1929.
The P26 only made its first flight 20 March 1932, with the first Peashooter reaching squadron service as late as December 1933. The P26´s peak service being six squadrons, in 1936.
At some point you'll have to do a breakdown of all the aircraft that inspired Miyazaki's work, especially in _Porco Rosso_
Just found the channel the other day and have been binging the videos. Keep up the great work!
Hi Rex, got to say this is a great channel. Watched 2 vids a while back & subscribed
Great work Sir thank you
Talking of Aircraft requests, can you do an episode on the Transavia Airtruk? It was made in I factory on station road Seven Hills in Sydney, and me and my friend used to watch them take off from the test strip behind the factory from the vantage point of his home on one of the said Hills. Many thanks Rex.
Coincidentally the designer of the PL-12 Airtruk (and the similar PL-11 Airtruck) was Italian too. PL being the acronym for Pellarini Luigi.
Incredible! And also a plane that I don't think that I'd ever heard of! And yet -.such a technical success. For a biplane it also didn't look that ungainly, so he obviously learned from he earlier projects. I was going to call "foul!" on the claimed 35' height, until I noticed that this was to the top of the fuselage, not the wing. The complete plane was closer to 7 stories high! Thanks for sharing this story!
Thank you, im interested into old planes alot for years, but i never heard about this
Little known but during the last years of WWI , lacking previous experience, the american pilots were trained in UK, France and Italy before going to combat units. There were 2 training centers In italy, one for seaplane pilots of US Navy on Lake Bolsena and one in Foggia for land-based pilots. In Foggia about 500 american pilots were trained as heavy bomber pilots, all these were trained on Ca.3. Many of these went to serve on Western front in France/Belgium while 75 stayed to serve on the Italian front, among these pilots there was Fiorello LaGuardia.
On the Italian front the Americans were intermixed with Italians in the more experienced italian units where they flew italian heavy bombers. These units were mainly equipped with Ca.3 (aka Ca.31 to 36, the biplane heavy bomber briefly shown in this video) but also Ca.4 (aka Ca.40 to 43, triplane heavy bomber) and at the very end also some Ca.5(aka Ca.44 to 46).
The importance of Ca.3 for US air services is testified by the fact that of the 2 original planes preserved today, both Ca.36, one is preserved in Italian Air Force Museum near Rome, the other one in USAF museum in Dayton Ohio.
Ca.3's were ordered and even license-built by USA and France, Served in French, American and even British units before the british could replace them with enough Handley Page type O.
Also the Ca.4 served in US and British(royal navy) units on western front.
Also some italian units were transferred to the Western Front, they seldom saw action in conjunction with the french units equipped with the same plane during strategic long-range raids over Cologne, Stuttgard and Friedrichshafen(600km deep into enemy territory!).
There is also an amazing airworthy Ca.3 replica(rebuilt from original plans) in Italy, based literally a couple hundred meters from the Piave river(once the front).
ruclips.net/video/Jh0yt_EytNY/видео.html
A very good documentary. Have you thought about doing amphibious craft ?
Another fascinating video. So what happened to the plane ? Was it scrapped ? crashed ? put in a very large shed and forgotten about ?
The original factory where it was built, "Caproni Vizzola Ticino" has become an aerospace museum that is literally "next door neighbour" with the international airport Milano Malpensa MXP. In the museum there are the few remainings of the Ca.90. (I remember a propeller, maybe a tyre) all the rest was scrapped for materials from what I can recall.
what is the plane flying above the plane on the ground at 8:43? must be a slightly different model if only one Ca90 was built?
I love your content Rex!
V16 or W18 for the Fraschini Assos'? Seems like they're 18s; three inline 6s. Around 7:00...
Thank you for this fascinating story! Good job!
Very interesting - thank you 👍.
Great story great images
Thank you
I was a Crew Chief on C-5A Galaxy # 70460, but I still find this quite impressive !
G'day,
Yay Team !
Congratulations mate, I started reading Aeroplane (Monthly) magazine in 1973, the Newsagent puts it aside for me, still... ; and you have with this one successfully shown me a Hairygoplane - a bloody huge great big old Biplane no less, the (one time) existance of which I was unaware...!
Well done, olde Bean ; ya got me !
Such is life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
Incredible, if unfortunate, aircraft. And it worked! Nice vid.
At 00:54 in this video: The _narrower wing_ was _on top??!!_ I have *NEVER* heard of that before.
The algorithm has blessed you.
Very nice !
Ca.90... a "could have been"... that's life !
Very interesting.....great pictures
When you see the name Caproni you know you are in for an awesome ride 😅😍
Does anyone know what happened to the prototype? was it preserved?
Your videos are grand. How about a video on the Australian CAC Wirraway or the Bell P-39 Airacobra. Thanks and keep the content coming!
What is the aeronautical thinking behind sesquiplane wing designs? Does the larger lower wing provide most of the wing loading allowing the shorter upper wing to provide extra lift? The Caproni museum in Trento is excellent and well worth a visit.
I think i read that two wings only provide 20% more lift, so possibly this is an optimisation for that. Though that number is propably too specific without context.
What surprised me most is the lower wing being the bigger- afaik, most sesquiplanes had a smaller bottom wing.
Between this and that nine-winged flying strip mall they came up with, I'm starting to wonder if somebody at Caproni accidentally used the wrong measurement units and planes went into production before anyone picked up on the mistake. 😉
I.e. the B. S. Johnson approach.
@@Desmaadi'm happy to report pratchett's characters remain recognisable in german :)
(where he is called "Absolut bekoppter Johnson", absolutely mad Johnson)
Food for thought - Giovanni Battista Caproni died on October 27, 1957. In his life time he'd seen the advent of powered flight and its progress from the Wright flyer through his own bi-planes to the jet age. Had he lived another 2 months he'd have been alive for the first flight of the Boeing 707 on December 20, 1957...
Amazing how fast technology moved.
Thank- you, fascinating,I only saw a Gypsy Moth lookalike he built.Would have been a hand & footfull,in crosswind! I admired Handley Page Heracles etc pilots flying continents in large biplanes,and Alcock& Brown in open Vimy Brave Men
Well, I guess I have to watch the wind rises now )
P.s. It will be very interesting to hear your take on Hawker Typhoon
Do a video on north America aviation, models and noticed design breakthroughs, I think it would be liked
What's wrong with the port lower wing in the photo at 11:00
Very interesting... Thanks
The wheels and tires alone are amazing
Caproni was certainly ambitious. He did design some good aircraft but they were not so big.
Very interesting aircraft
"...some viewed it in the same manner as we view nuclear weapons today..."
Now that's what I call a reassuring approach! Just wait for it, not lost, just delayed :)
What's the thinking behind the use of four blade pusher, but two blade tractor props? I mean why not just use the same type all round?
In this case the pusher props would be turning in the wake of the tractor props, hence they would lose efficiency because of aerodynamic interference. So a four blade propeller makes sense to extract as much thrust as possible from the engine and propeller combination.
@@JuanCarlosCoreaBarrios would what?
@@paulabraham2550 I think he's joking
Rex, any chance you've also watched Sky Crawlers?
Gorgeous thing
How does this kite compare to the German R planes? The AEG looks the same size.
Wow. I'd never heard of this plane before. The engineers must have been working at maximum capability when they designed her.
Remarkable for that time ! I wonder how the aircraft would have handled a rainstorm.
All through this I was thinking "it's a good thing they never made Carry On Flying". I can just imagine Barbara Windsor going, "Ooh! It's a BIG one. It won't fit... in the hangar I mean".
I like your stuff. do some early u.s bomber planes
I'm starting to suspect this channel is secretly an advertising endevour for The Wind Rises. Crunchy Roll sponsorship when?
What a monster!
Quite a lot of airplane!
Very cool
Caproni was ahead of his time
9:51 the Ca.90 Had a V engine i guess and the Ca.91 Seeplane has air cooled radial engines
I must watch the "the Wind rises"
Excellent, an unknown to me
One hell of a flying target , but the size is impressive
What a machine!
WOW, that's massive!
A video on the Beegee airplanes would be really cool ngl.
was a caproni plane involved in the italo-ottoman war of 1912?
Yes the ca. 30, the first ever bomber
More great content..
Rumor has it a Sopwith Camel got sucked into the fuselage through the cockpit accidentally. After flying around inside the Ca90 for over 30 minutes looking for a way out, the pilot in a desperate attempt managed to escape through the toilet.
The Wind Rises is interesting for giving a humanised viewpoint to conditions of aeroplane designers in Axis countries.
Amazing airplane!