Giovanni Battista Caproni
Giovanni Battista Caproni | |
---|---|
electrical engineer, civil engineer , aircraft designer | |
Years active | 1907-c. 1950 |
Giovanni Battista Caproni, 1st Count of
Early life and education
Caproni was born on July 3, 1886, in
Career
In 1907 and 1908, Caproni gained experience in the construction of
In 1911, the year his company was named Società de Agostini e Caproni, he switched to
Caproni was an early proponent of the development of passenger aircraft, and developed a variant of the Ca.4 bomber into the Ca.48 airliner. Although it made a very favorable impression on the public when first displayed, the Ca.48 probably never entered airline service, and on August 2, 1919, a Ca.48 crashed near Verona, Italy, killing everyone on board (14, 15, or 17 people, according to various sources) in Italy's first commercial aviation disaster and one of the earliest – and, at the time, the deadliest – airliner accidents in history.[2] [3][4][5] In 1921, he built the prototype of a giant transatlantic passenger seaplane, the Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano, with a capacity of 100 passengers, but it proved unstable and crashed on its second flight. He also designed gliders.[1]
Between World War I and World War II, he devoted most of his effort to the design and production of bombers and light transport aircraft, and his company manufactured the early Stipa-Caproni and Caproni Campini N.1, the ducted fan experimental aircraft which were precursors of true jet aircraft. During this period, his company became Società Italiana Caproni, a major conglomerate which purchased other manufacturers, creating subsidiaries which included Caproni Bergamasca and Caproni Vizzola,[1] although the assertion that Caproni also purchased the Reggiane company to form a "Caproni Reggiane" subsidiary is a myth.[6] Caproni was granted the title Conte di Taliedo (Count of Taliedo, or Earl of Taliedo) during the interwar period.[1]
The Caproni company produced aircraft for the
The Società Italiana Caproni conglomerate ceased operations in 1950, although its last vestige, the Caproni Vizzola subsidiary, survived until 1983.[1]
Death and legacy
Caproni died in Rome on October 27, 1957.[1] His remains were transferred to his hometown of Massone where he was buried in the Caproni family grave.
In 1983, Caproni was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.[7]
See also
- Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics
- The Wind Rises, a 2013 film in which Caproni is a character
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Personaggi | Torino Scienza". www.torinoscienza.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-04-11.
- ^ The civilian transport aircraft of Caproni (1918–1939)
- ^ Flight, August 7, 1919, p. 1053, at flightglobal.com
- ^ "Venice Airport Lido: On the Wings of the Sparrow". Archived from the original on 2017-06-12. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
- ^ Guttman, "Crazy Capronis," Aviation History, July 2008, p. 55.
- ISBN 0-8317-3939-8, p.108
- ISBN 978-1-57864-397-4.