Actually, we have already discussed the tragic story of the largest seaplane in the world, based on which the famous film was shot. But that was all a little later. And it all began with the fact that in the 1920s, aviation experienced a rapid heyday, because the First World War, which clearly showed the prospects of air transport and winged combat vehicles, just ended. At the same time, the search for new designs did not stop, which often led to the appearance of real "Frankenstein" aircraft.
And just at this time, the designers came up with the idea to build a triplane seaplane, which had 8 engines, 9 wings and could lift up to a hundred people into the air.
This is how this idea ended..
At the beginning of the twentieth century, aviation developed by leaps and bounds, and the First World War further spurred the work of designers. As a result, already in 1919, an unspoken competition began between the leading aviation companies: on whose plane the first flight across the Atlantic would be made. At the same time, many relied on seaplanes as the safest type of air transport. The motors of those years were not very reliable, and therefore, having pontoons or a sealed hull, one could board the water in case of a malfunction. Flying boats for transatlantic flights were quite large (for example, Curtiss NC-4 or Felixstowe Fury), but the Italian company Caproni began to build an unimaginable giant.
The chief designer and owner of the enterprise, Giovanni Battista Caproni, decided to surpass everyone. Therefore, in 1919, the development of the largest (at that time) aircraft in the world began. Signor Caproni has officially announced that the time is not far off when huge airliners with a capacity of more than a hundred passengers will become commonplace. And in order to expand the geography of flights, the plane must be able to land on water. This is the only way to not depend on the availability of airfields.
To lift the fuselage of a 100-seat aircraft into the sky, a tremendous lift is needed. For the new machine, called the Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano, a triplane scheme was used, when the wings were located in three groups of three, one above the other. Thus, there were nine wings in total, and they were taken from serial bombers.
Promotional video:
Before you is an experimental flying boat-airliner - Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano, created in 1920 by the Italian company Caproni. This unusual boat-airliner had an equally unusual aerodynamic system: nine wings were arranged in tandem in three packages in a triangular pattern. That is why it was called “triple triplane”.
A triplane is a type of aircraft, the design of which is characterized by the presence of three wings - three surfaces for creating lift. As a rule, the wings are located one above the other, and such an aircraft is called a transverse triplane. Such triplanes became most widespread during the First World War.
However, the Capronissimo was more of a flying boat than a transatlantic airliner - it was designed exclusively for take-off and landing on water, which was typical of most of the huge aircraft of the time.
The flying houseboat SA-60 was equipped with three sets of triplane wings left over from bombers during the First World War. These wings were mounted over a hundred-seat hull, which actually looked more like a houseboat than any known aircraft. The total area of nine wings was 837 m2 (only one aircraft in the history of aviation had a large wing area - the giant flying boat "Hughes N-4", built in 1947). The central wings of each triplane set were connected by two parallel box-shaped structures resembling fuselages.
Each of these structures (front and rear) housed the American Liberty 400 hp engine. from. Additional propulsion systems, consisting of one push and one pulling engine, were located between the fuselages in the front and rear triple wing sets. Thus, the aircraft was equipped with eight engines. Ailerons were installed on all nine wings, but the rear ailerons also served as elevators. Vertical keels and rudders were installed on the outside of the fuselages between all the rear wings.
Only one copy of this aircraft was built, and it made only one short flight over Lake Maggiore in Italy on March 4, 1921. The plane gained an altitude of only 18 meters and then fell, breaking on impact. According to one version, the pilots survived, and according to the other, both pilots were killed.
Caproni collected the wreckage of his plane washed ashore and announced that he intends to build it again, but that night all the surviving parts were burned down.
Wingspan, m 30.50
Length, m 23.45
Height, m 9.15
Wing area, m2 837.00
empty equipped
normal take-off 24950 Engine
type 8 PD Liberty 12
Power, hp 8 х 400
Maximum speed, km / h 145
Practical range, km 660
Practical ceiling, m
Crew, people 8
Payload: up to 100 passengers