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Caproni Vizzola F.4

1940 WORLD WAR 2 X-PLANE

Caproni Vizzola F. 4 Stories

On the eve of World War II (1939-1945), in the second half of 1937, the Italian aviation company Caproni began work on a new, state-of-the-art single-seat low-wing/single-seat-engine monoplane. The engineering team was led by F. Fabrizi, an effort that culminated in the production of two similar fighter jets in prototype form - the Caproni-Vizzola "F.

4" and "F. 5" - who started a new line of fighter jets that were Called "F.6". None of these aircraft achieved much during their flight, but were merely footnotes in the history of Italian military aviation.

The F. 4 featured in this article is finished in a traditional hybrid construction, in which both wood and metal play a major role. A welded tubular steel frame forms the support structure surrounding the internal structure. The cockpit can accommodate one person and is fully enclosed amidships.

As usual, the engine was mounted on the nose in front of the cockpit, driving a three-bladed drawn propeller unit. The rear wing has a vertical fin with a deep horizontal plane. The wooden wing main aircraft is located lower on the side of the fuselage, and the overall appearance is rounded and rounded. Typical rear tow landing gear (fully retractable) for ground operations.

The aircraft's wings and fuselage are wrapped in plywood and use flush rivets to maintain its inherent aerodynamic qualities.

The new F. 4 is planned to be powered by a liquid-cooled 12-cylinder in-line Isotta-Fraschini Asso 121 R. C. 40 series engine with 960 hp. However, Regia Aeronautica's preference for different engine types for its fighter fleet forced the F.4 to remain dormant for the time being as attention turned to the radially powered F.5.

The F.4's fortunes changed a bit in the summer of 1939 when the Kingdom of Italy's relations with the Germans paid off and the Daimler-Benz DB601A inline engine was supplied in large quantities to the German war allies. Approved by Italian authorities, the engine was installed into the final pre-production form of the F.5 series to produce what essentially became the F.4 prototype.

This then led to the recording of the first flight in July 1940 - thus showing that World War II (1939-1945) was in full swing and Italian participation was increasing. The engine will be licensed by Alfa Romeo in due course.

As a combat platform, the F.4 was moderately armament by the standards of the time - the proposed armament was nothing more than a pair of 12.7mm Breda SAFAT machine guns mounted on fixed forward-firing mounts.

The new fighter was named "F. 5bis", but the introduction of Daimler-Benz's DB605 series series and steps were taken to integrate these more powerful engines into the newer fighter "F. 6" means F. 4 There is no foreseeable future in Regia Aeronautica.

As such, it was relegated to Test for the rest of the 303rd Squadron's life, and its days came to an abrupt end in 1942.

As tested, the aircraft has a top speed of 342 mph, while cruising is close to 305 mph. Range is 435 miles and service is capped at 32,800 feet.

The F.5 performed slightly better with several prototypes and twelve pre-production units completed. The F.6 faced development difficulties and delays, and was tested until August 1943. However, the Italians surrendered in September, finally ending Fabrizzi's Warriors series.