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[size=4]Heavenly Pursuits Gets a Tour of Guidonia Airfield[/size]

Februrary 1933

This reporter was privileged to receive a tour of the Guidonia airfield outside Rome. Named after Generale Guidoni, it has been developed into a large scale test site for aviation projects and continues to follow the late general's inventiveness and forethought. I include a few short excerpts of some trials I was permitted to watch.

There were happy scenes at RAV, the high-speed aeronautics branch. Their entrant into the Schneider Trophy had just won. The C.72 has been in development since 1929 and their efforts finally came into fruition earlier this year. There are currently two projects ongoing, one for a speed record attempt next year, and another to develop an aircraft for the 1935 race. Both efforts revolve around improving the C.72 especially in improving the reliability of the AS.6 engine, and in further increasing it's power from 3100hp. Most of the work is going into blending fuels with the addition of TEL and in further supercharging the engine from its extant 1.75bar. I'm told that more work is also needed in streamlining. The new wind tunnel currently being built will provide much needed data for high-speed flight. Piaggio are hoping to field a more developed PC.7 for the race as well.

Elsewhere other engines are being tested. The supercharged Piaggio P.IX RC.40 proved to be quite a success at Cordoba and has shown the way for the future. This particular engine has fell a little to the wayside with a sudden emphasis being put into inline engines. Mostly of note are the various Isotta-Fraschini engines, ranging from the 57L Asso 1000 (W1 to the 19L Semi-Asso(I6) . The 1000 series are being currently used in Mas, give over 1000hp and are extremely reliable. It is hoped to increase power to 1150hp with some development. I'm told the smaller XI series are going to be used on various new fighter designs. They are currently running at 960hp with more to come. Being the latest in a long line of successful engines their reliability is ensured. The current Semi-Asso is one bank of the 1000series and is being used for smaller, lighter aircraft. It is a 19L straight 6 with a small radiator but mostly air cooled. A longer term plan is the Duo-Asso combining two banks of cylinders. One engineer working for Fiat SpA indicated that design had begun on a new extremely large and powerful engine taking the experience gained with the AS.6. We will probably see this engine before the 1935 fighter competition. The last, and largest engine on test is the Fiat-Guidoni diesel being used to power the new alsicafo to various degrees of success. The engines are running at 5000hp currently but there are many heat-induced failures. It is massive 125L high speed diesel that makes an awful sound that can be heard for kms when being tested.

Out on the field itself is one of the largest aircraft in existence, the Caproni 90. About 30 were built in the late 20s but have now been discarded to other duties. They were just too large to be useful. The aircraft out on the field is M.344 and is fitted with radio controls. It has mostly been used in testing anti-aircraft defences. It flies in a pattern over a battery whilst various experiments are carried out with shells. The large of the aircraft is useful in this regard. It has received a number of hits from shells of up to 100mm calibre but has carried on flying. Problems with the normal 100mm shells have been experienced. They have a lethal radius of roughly 10m. With the increasing size of aircraft essentially a direct hit is needed to destroy them. One engineer decided to test the affects of a simple contact fused shell. The hit probability actually increased as it is not so dependant on correct altitude measurement and precise time fuses. In addition the deletion of the fuse setter has enabled the rate of fire to be increased slightly.

Alongside the Ca.90 is the new and sole prototype of the SM.79quater fitted with Asso inline engines in place of the Alfa Romeo radials. Although looking sleek and modern when first unveiled last year, SuperAero feels that the “Gobbo” has already been eclipsed with the appearance of the latest monoplane fighters and bombers. They were quite worried by the Spartan types unveiled by Atlantis. The quarter is currently being fitted with inline engines of increased power in an attempt to coax more speed from the airframe. Flight tests are planned to start in early April.

Quoted

There are currently two projects ongoing, one for a speed record attempt next year, and another to develop an aircraft for the 1935 race.

1935? Wouldnt the next Schneider Thropy Race be in 1933? Or 1934 if we are going every 2 years?

Looks to me that they think that it might take a while to design that plane...

The two years from 1929 to 1931 proved insufficient. So i adopted a 3 year gap to allow for development time. Take it up with the FAI if you want a 2 year gap.