Hi friends,
researchin Italian postwar elementary and basic trainers, I found this one that I was in doubt about posting it as an early or postwar projetc. In fact, It was started in 1940 according to one source and in 1945 according to another. The aircraft is the Cator 110 by ing. Sergio Del Proposto (the designer of the TM.2 tactical transport glider).
According to Italo de'Marchi's "Gli aeroplani italiani 1945-1991", Del Proposto, in 1940 when working for CAT, started designing and building the prototype of a touring and training plane called the Cator 110. Nobody give us an explanation of the name: parhaps Cat or CAT derived from the name of the firm (Costruzioni Aeronautiche di Taliedo, initially independent then part of the Caproni Group but not the same as Caproni Taliedo); someone says that Del Proposto was part of the sailplane community where are in use ironic names: Cator could be a truncated form of 'catorcio' (valetudinarian, old and inefficient mechanism). Reading the same text we saw that the prototype in 1943 was concealed to the German occupying forces at Orla, in Laveno (Varese or Brescia?) where after the war Del Proposto continued the work. In 1947 the aircraft, near completed, ended-up at the Caproni Taliedo but never received an engine nor was flown.
Instead Giorgio Evangelisti on his "Gente dell'Aria" Vol. 5 said only that immediately after the war the designer started building, apparently without any external financing, the prototype of Cator 110. In late 1947 the aircraft was near finished but without fabric covering and engine, and its designer was unable to secure financing for buying an engine and proceed with the programme. The nature of the powerplant was never identified: a drawing show a four cylinder in-line engine, mounted inverted, and the technical relations spoke about a "130 HP engine".
Fortunately we have all the the project specification: wingspan 10.00 m, lenght 6.50 m, wing area 16.6 or 14.6 (according to the various sources) sq m, aspect ratio 6.85, empty wight 620 kg, loaded wight 900 kg, maximum speed 250 km/h, cruising speed 218 km/h, climb to 1,000 m in 4 min 26 sec, to 2,000 m in 9 min 57 sec, to 3,000 m in 17 min 12 sec, to 4,000 m in 27 min 48 sec, to 5,000 m in 47 min 54 sec, service ceiling 5,000 m, range 750 to 1,340 km.
Nico
researchin Italian postwar elementary and basic trainers, I found this one that I was in doubt about posting it as an early or postwar projetc. In fact, It was started in 1940 according to one source and in 1945 according to another. The aircraft is the Cator 110 by ing. Sergio Del Proposto (the designer of the TM.2 tactical transport glider).
According to Italo de'Marchi's "Gli aeroplani italiani 1945-1991", Del Proposto, in 1940 when working for CAT, started designing and building the prototype of a touring and training plane called the Cator 110. Nobody give us an explanation of the name: parhaps Cat or CAT derived from the name of the firm (Costruzioni Aeronautiche di Taliedo, initially independent then part of the Caproni Group but not the same as Caproni Taliedo); someone says that Del Proposto was part of the sailplane community where are in use ironic names: Cator could be a truncated form of 'catorcio' (valetudinarian, old and inefficient mechanism). Reading the same text we saw that the prototype in 1943 was concealed to the German occupying forces at Orla, in Laveno (Varese or Brescia?) where after the war Del Proposto continued the work. In 1947 the aircraft, near completed, ended-up at the Caproni Taliedo but never received an engine nor was flown.
Instead Giorgio Evangelisti on his "Gente dell'Aria" Vol. 5 said only that immediately after the war the designer started building, apparently without any external financing, the prototype of Cator 110. In late 1947 the aircraft was near finished but without fabric covering and engine, and its designer was unable to secure financing for buying an engine and proceed with the programme. The nature of the powerplant was never identified: a drawing show a four cylinder in-line engine, mounted inverted, and the technical relations spoke about a "130 HP engine".
Fortunately we have all the the project specification: wingspan 10.00 m, lenght 6.50 m, wing area 16.6 or 14.6 (according to the various sources) sq m, aspect ratio 6.85, empty wight 620 kg, loaded wight 900 kg, maximum speed 250 km/h, cruising speed 218 km/h, climb to 1,000 m in 4 min 26 sec, to 2,000 m in 9 min 57 sec, to 3,000 m in 17 min 12 sec, to 4,000 m in 27 min 48 sec, to 5,000 m in 47 min 54 sec, service ceiling 5,000 m, range 750 to 1,340 km.
Nico
