Caproni CA.331 (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. 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 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.