Gabardini monoplane

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Monoplane
Float equipped Gabardini monoplane, Volandia Museum, Varese
Role Early
military trainer
National origin Italy
Manufacturer Società Incremento Aviazione, Cameri
First flight 1913

The Gabardini monoplane was a successful early monoplane constructed in Italy which made several notable flights, often carrying passengers, just before World War I. During the war, a number of lower-powered Gabardini monoplanes served as a training aircraft for the military.

Design and development

The Gabardini monoplane, then fitted with a 60 kW (80 hp)

trainer and was produced at the Cameri works from 1914 onwards. Other variants differed chiefly in engine size, though undercarriage details also varied; there were, for example, elementary trainers with 35 horsepower (26 kW) Anzani engines and single-seaters with 80 horsepower (60 kW) Le Rhônes.[1] Reported spans differ somewhat but the fuselage, empennage and wing area generally remained constant.[1][2] Contemporary sources[1][2][3][4] describe the aircraft simply as Gabardini monoplanes, with no type number, though it is known that there also existed a Gabardini 2 (or Ga.2), which was a monoplane trainer used at Cameri.[5]

The Gabardini monoplane was designed with a steel tube structure, which was unusual. Its

pylon over the cockpit. The lower wires were attached to the frame that also carried the landing wheels and skids.[2]

The fuselage was also steel tube-framed, reinforced with wood and covered with fabric. The forward part, with the engine, pylon and open cockpit, had four

elevators, was placed well ahead of the rudder, giving it plenty of room for movement.[2][4] Under the forward fuselage, a pair of skids formed the undercarriage, often straight with turned up front ends but sometimes continuously curved, connected to the fuselage by three struts. Between them and connected with elastic was a tubular axle carrying a single wheel at each end. Some aircraft (seaplanes or idro), with somewhat different dimensions, were fitted with twin floats in lieu of wheels.[2]

Operational history

One of the first flights to bring attention to the Gabardini monoplane was made in 1913, when Philip Cevasco carried two passengers non-stop from Milan to Paris in a 60 kW (80 hp) model.[1] The following year, Landini flew from Italy to Switzerland, over Monte Rosa in the Alps, reaching a height of 3,450 m (11,320 ft) with one passenger. The next day, Desbrueres set a solo Italian altitude record at 4,950 m (16,240 ft).[3]

The lower-powered 37 kW (50 hp) Gnôme-engined variant proved a capable single-seat trainer, and several were produced during the First World War, remaining in use from 1914 to 1918 with only a cockpit modification. It was claimed that the Cameri School produced as many pilots as all the other flight schools in Italy combined, and that their pupils had the highest survival rate.[1]

Some "captive" Gabardini monoplanes, stripped of their engines, horizontal tails and undercarriages, were fixed to static mountings, which allowed freedom of roll and yaw to familiarize students with the feel of the controls. Motion excursion limits were set by fixed external cables.[1]

Specifications (37 kW (50 hp) trainer)

Data from Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I[1]

General characteristics

  • Crew: One
  • Wingspan: 10 m (32 ft 10 in)
  • Wing area: 18 m2 (190 sq ft)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Gnôme rotary engine, 37 kW (50 hp)
  • Propellers: 2-bladed

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 100 km/h (62 mph, 54 kn) "low down""

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gabardini monoplane.
  1. ^
    ISBN 1-85170-347-0
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Gabardini". Flight. Vol. VI, no. 45. 6 November 1914. p. 1102.
  3. ^ a b "Flying over Monte Rosa/New Italian height record". Flight. Vol. VI, no. 31. 31 July 1914. p. 820.
  4. ^ a b c "An Italian monoplane the Gabardini". Flight. Vol. VII, no. 25. 18 June 1915. p. 431.
  5. ISBN 978-0-85130-418-2
    .
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