Pegna Aircraft

[hesham]

Hi,

Giovanni Pegna (4 January 1888 – 19 May 1961) was an important figure
in the development of Italian aviation. He was the head of the construction
department of Piaggio and later of the Officine Meccaniche Reggiane, a
subdivision of Caproni.

Later I will speak about his aircraft,that's included;

Pc.1 to Pc.7,Type I to Type IX,PBR.1 to 3,PBN & PBN.2,PBC &PBC.5,Flying wing,
Seaplane bomber,Rondone,Helicopter 1923,Jet seaplane ?,Pegna 1 & 2.

 

[hesham]

Sorry I am in a summer holiday,but I remember to fill the list.

 

[Apophenia]

Since hesham is away on holiday, I'll make a start on a Pegna designation list. I'm including the Pc. series of racers which gives me a cut-off date of 1929. As we already have a Piaggio designation list, I will avoid Pegna's work specifically for them.

Pegna Numbered Series Aircraft Designations

Designations for Giovanni Battista Pegna's aircraft design work begin in 1909 with two flyable scale models. For the first, the style is a little erratic. The Pegna 1 model glider may also be referred to as the Pegna I (Roman) or as Pegna I° (ie: Primo). Fortunately, this seems to be the only example of overlapping Arabic and Roman numerals applied to a Pegna designs.

Thereafter, both Roman-numeral and Arabic-numeral series aircraft designations occured but there seems to be little or no overlap. For sake of chronology, the Arabic-numeral series will be listed first. The Roman-numeral series will follow ... but I have nothing to add to the few details already listed by hesham. [1]

The Arabic-numeral series begins in 1909 but, oddly, both Arabic and Roman numeral series designations
are continued by then-cap. G.N. Pegna of the Regia Marina. [2] Why he persisted with these parallel designation systems is anyone's guess.

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[1] One caveat is for the use of the term 'seaplane'. Here, the idrovolante continues to haunt us - for no distinction is made in Italian between a floatplane and a flying boat. As a result, we must assume that anything described as a 'seaplane' could be of either type.

[2] That cap. G.N. was an abbreviation for Pegna's Regia Marina rank - capitano del Genio Navale or 'Captain of the Naval Engineering Corps'.

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Pegna Arabic-Numeral Series Aircraft Designations

Pegna 1 - 1909 flying scale model of a biplane glider
- Pegna 1 : aka (Roman) Pegna I or Pegna I° (Primo)

Pegna 2 - 1909 flying scale model monoplane flying boat
- Pegna 2 : 1 x 1 hp 2-cyl. engine; 4-bladed propeller
-- Pegna 2 was destroyed at the end of its first flight

Pegna 3 - 1913 mod. of Curtiss-Robinson* amphibian; x 1
- Pegna 3: Regia Marina Curtiss-Robinson 3-seat mod.
- Pegna 3: 1 x 80 hp Curtiss 'O' V8 engine; span 8.60 m
-- * 'Curtiss-Robinsons' were modified Curtiss A-1 Triads
-- * Wingspan reduced from 8.75 m for shipboard stowage
- Pegna 3: Flew 04 April 1913 with then-ten. Pegna as pax
-- Crashed La Spezia Golfo; 03 Aug 1913; Pegna rescued

Pegna 4 - 1915 single-engined monoplane on floats; x 1
- Pegna 4: Prototype destroyed in collision with a boat
- Pegna 4: (??) no other details

Pegna 5 - 1915 single-engined monoplane on floats; x 1
- Pegna 5: High-wing; stabilized by moveable fuselage*
- Pegna 5: 1 x 100 hp Gnome 14-cyl. twin-row rotary**
-- * Under-slung fuselage could be moved longitudinally
-- ** Numerous engine types were trialled on Pegna 5
-- ** Later, a 90 hp Salmson water-cooled 7-cyl. radial
- Pegna 5: Flight trials were disappointing; abandoned

Pegna 6 - 1916 2-seat maritime recce flying boat; x 1
- Pegna 6: (As built) All-steel hull; thick biplane wings
- Pegna 6: (As mod.) A lighter wooden hull substituted
- Pegna 6: 1 x 180 hp I-F V.4B 6-cyl. inline; span (??) m
- Pegna 6: Lost the support of Naval Staff; cancelled [1]

Pegna 7 - (Project) 1916 stratosferico high-altitude aircraft
- Pegna 7: Related to Pegna 8 & 9; unclear if research a/c
- Pegna 7: 4 x push-pull engines + central fuselage engine*
-- * 5th engine drove compressor to supercharge the others
-- * Operating altitude was expected to be 6,000-8,000 m
- Pegna 7: Development cancelled along with Pegna 8 & 9
-- NB: hesham also mention a high-altitude seaplane

Pegna 8 - (Project) 1916 4-engine biplane naval bomber
- Pegna 8: Heavy bomber meant for Regia Marina
- Pegna 8: 4 x tandem 250-hp I-F V.6 6-cyl.; span 35.00 m
- Pegna 8: Constr. begun by Fratelli Zari (Bovisio-Mombello)
- Pegna 8: Lost the support of Naval Staff; cancelled [1]
-- Claims that Pegna 8 influenced the postwar R.B.C. (qv)

Pegna 9 - (Project) 1916 4-engine biplane naval bomber
- Pegna 9: Faster, more compact* derivative of Pegna 8
- Pegna 9: 4 x tandem 250-hp I-F V5 8-cyl.; span 25.00 m
-- * Wing area reduced to 140 m2 (down from 18.58 m2)
- Pegna 9: Lost the support of Naval Staff; cancelled [1]

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Pegna Roman-Numeral Series Aircraft Designations

Pegna I : (Project) 1913; unbuilt seaplane design
- Pegna I : (??) no further details

Pegna II : (Project) 1913; unbuilt seaplane design
- Pegna II : (??) no further details

Pegna III - (Project) 1915; unbuilt seaplane design
- Pegna III: (??) no further details

Pegna IV - (Project) 1915; unbuilt 4-engined landplane
- Pegna IV : (??) no further details

Pegna V - (Project) 1915; unbuilt 4-engined landplane
- Pegna V : (??) no further details

Pegna VI - 1917 single-seat fighter flying boat biplane; x 1
- Pegna VI: 1 x 180 hp I-F V.4B 6-cyl. pusher; span 12.49 m
-- Note similarities & differences with Pegna 6, above [qv]

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[1] Initially, Pegna's work had the active support of Naval Staff through the Assistant CNS - contrammiraglio Pino Pini. Unfortunately for cap. Pegna, C.A. Pini died in office. His successor, C.A. Paolo Marzolo, cancelled further work on all pending Pegna projects. For mysterious reasons, online references to C.A. Marzolo name him as 'Casanova', raising his rank to full ammiraglio and make him "head of [the Regia] Marina". Perhaps this was a Pegna biographer's revenge?

 

[Apophenia]

Pegna-Rossi-Bastianelli

According to Jane's , Pegna-Rossi-Bastianelli was a partnership formed in 1920 specifically to build two aircraft designs by Giovanni Pegna. The first was a large flying boat - possibly inspired by the large Curtiss flying boats that Pegna had shown an interest in as a naval officer. In any case Pegna devised a flying boat based on the wings from his cancelled Pegna 8 heavy bomber design.

It is no surprise that this giant flying boat is normally referred to as the Bastianelli B.R.B. Ing. Filippo Bastianelli was on the board of directors of Alfa Romeo & C. but he also wanted his own stake in aircraft manufacturing. To that end, Bastianelli had established his Società Industriale per l'Aviazione back in Sept 1918. The intention was to manufacture aircraft suited to the imminent postwar period. To that end, he partnered with pioneer pilot (and veteran of Libya and WW1) Giuseppe Rossi and designer Giovanni Pegna.

Intended for transatlantic and other long-range routes, the B.R.B. would be built primarily out of wood. After its enormous airframe was largely completed, it was shipped to Ostia for final assembly. After taxi trials, the B.R.B. first flew on 11 May 1921 with cav. Rossi at the controls. Testing was successful but there was no market for the B.R.B. As a result, Filippo Bastianelli's ambitious Società Industriale per l'Aviazione failed before it could produce its other Pegna design - a tiny, economical light monoplane which would later emerge as the 1923 Rondine ultralight.

P.R.B. - 1920-21 3-bay biplane long-range flying boat; x 1
- P.R.B.: 3-layer wood hull; wings/empennage of Pegna 8
- P.R.B.: 4 x 300 hp Fiat A.12bis (push-pull); span 31.40 m

 

[Apophenia]

CNA & Bonmartini - Giovanni Pegna Before Piaggio

CNA prior to Pegna has a convoluted history. The corporate identity changed often. CNA was established in 1920 by il conte Giovanni Bonmartini but it existed under a number of names. The earliest incarnation was the Cooperativa Nazionale Aeronautica of March 1920 - involved in the sale of ex-military aircraft, a flying school at Cerveteri (Rome), and an attempt at forming an airline. The latter was a contentious effort to connect Italy with the Soviet Union by air. Two aircraft crashed fatally (likely due to sabotage), these disasters resulting in the failure of the airline.

In late Nov 1921, Bonmartini reformed his failing firm as the Compagnia di Navigazione Aerea. Then, in 1922, there was another renaming as Costruzione Navali Aeronautsche. Contemporary sources [1] suggest that the workshops of 'Bonmartini-Cerroni' (not 'Cerrone' [sic]) operated separately from the Costruzione Navali Aeronautsche. But, if true, this was an accounting exercise since il conte was involved in both enterprises. There only relevance to our story is that the chief engineer hired was former military designer, dott. ing. Giovanni Pegna.

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[1] Eg: A reviewer in Aerial Age magazine (April 1923; pg 198) describes the relationship as an "open partnership established [in] 1922".
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Costruzione Navali Aeronautsche ('Pegna-Bonmartini') Designs

Note that Costruzione Navali Aeronautsche didn't apply designations as such. Names and acronyms based on designers' names were the order of the day ... along with generic descriptions for any underdeveloped concepts. Here, I have dated all CNA/'Pegna-Bonmartini' projects to 1923 (although work may have actually begun on some of them during 1922).

Elicottero - (Project) 1923 unbuilt multi-rotor helicopter concept
- Elicottero : Intended for use by Regia Marina; tandem rotors*
-- * With controllable pitch; as devised by prof. ing. Enrico Pistolesi
-- * Fore-and-aft main rotors + side stabilizer rotors + fan-in-tailfin

'Leonardo da Vinci' - (Project) 1923 unbuilt transatlantic aircraft
-- 16-engined biplane flying boat; 20 t payload; all-up weight ~55 t
- 'Leonardo da Vinci': 4 x 200 hp Fiat A.12 bis 6-cyl. inlines

P.B.N. - 1923 4-engined biplane night bomber; aka Piaggio P.3; x 1
- P.B.N. : (As planned) 2 x 300 hp Hispano-Suiza 8F V8 tractors
- P.B.N. : (As built) 2-bay, equal-span biplane; push-pull engines
- P.B.N. : 4 x 200 hp S.P.A. 6A 6-cylinder inlines; span 24.00 m
-- P.B.N. = Pegna Bonmartini Notturno (or Nocturnal)
- P.B.N. : (As Piaggio P.3) 2 x 410 hp Fiat A.20V 18.7 litre V12s

Rondine - 1923 single-seat ultralight sportsplane; x 1
- Rondine: Mid-set, deep-chord monoplane wings
- Rondine: 1 x 8 hp ABC '8 hp' HO2;* span 10.00 m
-- * Installed after refused to fly on lower-power engines
-- * Claims that definitive engine was Anzani 6-cylinder
-- Rondine translates from the Italian as 'Swallow'
- Rondine: aka CNA PB Rondine
-- Some sources claim Rondine became the Piaggio P.1

Rondone - (Project) 1923 2-seat Rondine derivative
- Rondone: Mid-set, deep-chord monoplane wings
- Rondone: 1 x 45 hp Anzani 6-cyl.; span (??) m
-- Rondone translates from the Italian as 'Swift'
- Rondone: aka Piaggio P.1 (Piaggio found no market)
- Rondone Tipo 2: Built version of the PB Rondone

Caccia Pegna - 1923 single-seat monoplane fighter; x 2
- Caccia Pegna: Fast, low-winged cantilever monoplane
- Caccia Pegna: aka Piaggio P.2
-- Piaggio P.2: 1 x 300 hp Hispano-Suiza HS 42; span 10.58 m

P.B.C. - 1923 twin-pusher; braced low-wing monoplane bomber
- P.B.C.: 2 x 300 hp Hispano Suiza pushers; span 15.20 m
- P.B.C.: For Pegna-Bonmartini-Cerroni - not 'Cerrone' [sic]*
-- * Cerroni was a co-owner of CNA/'Pegna-Bonmartini'

 

[Apophenia]

'Pegna corsa' - Giovanni Pegna's Racing Aircraft

Fortunately, dott. ing. Giovanni Pegna recorded his thoughts on racer design in 1932. Pegna referred to his non-floatplane designs as 'idrovolante ala scafo' (wing-hull seaplanes) in his paper, Alcune Idee Sugli Idrovolanti da Corsa (Some Ideas on Racing Seaplanes). [1]

Racers were designed exclusively for the prestigious Schneider Trophy. The number of designs for each contest may seem excessive. But Pegna explains his process - various possibilities being sketch out (including some 'straw men'), potential avenues are then fleshed-out, before zeroing in on finishing design work on the most promising concepts. This is not an uncommon approach but it is refreshing to have an engineer freely describe his entire design process - including throwing out the lemons

The Style of 'Pegna corsa' Designations

'Pegna corsa' just means 'Pegna racer'. A wide range of designation presentations will be seen - for example: PC-7, PC.7, P.C.7, and the like. Here, I have followed Giovanni Pegna's own style and used 'Pc. x' exclusively. In presentation, this may look a little odd to modern eyes but, here, I bow to the preferences of dott. ing. Pegna.

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[1] Alcune Idee Sugli Idrovolanti da Corsa, published in Rivista Aeronautica, Anno 8, No. 6 (giugno 1932), Roma, pp. 461-516
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Pegna's Pc. Series of Racing Aircraft Designations

Pegna Pc. 1 - (Project) Flying boat study for 1921 Schneider Trophy
- Pc. 1: Shoulder-winged monoplane; tilting engine mount for T/O
- Pc. 1: 1 x (??) hp (??) engine; span 9.20 m

Pegna Pc. 2 - (Project) 1923; Piaggio P.4 for 1924 Schneider Trophy
- Pc. 2: Conventional, low-winged monoplane; twin floats
- Pc. 2: 1 x (??) hp (??) V12 tractor engine; span 10.11 m
- Pc. 2: Concept refined into Pc. 3 study (below) & Pc. 5 - Pc. 7

Pegna Pc. 3 - (Project) 1923; Piaggio P.5 (? desig.unconfirmed)
- Pc. 3: Conventional, low-winged monoplane; twin floats; x 1*
- Pc. 3: 1 x (??) hp (??) V12 tractor engine; span 9.35 m
-- * Construction was well advanced on Pc. 3 at cancellation
- Pc. 3: Penga regarded this as ultimate refinement of Pc. 2**
-- ** With particular attention given to reducing frontal area

Pegna Pc. 4 - (Project) 1927; study for 1929 Schneider Trophy
- Pc. 4: Low-winged flying boat racer; * push-pull fuselage pod
- Pc. 4: 1 x tractor V12 engine/1 x pusher V12; span 11.50 m
-- * Stabilizer floats were to retract into the main, central float
- Pc. 4: Adv'd concept w/ buried cockpit; did not satisfy Pegna

Pegna Pc. 5 - (Project) 1927; study for 1929 Schneider Trophy
- Pc. 5: Strutted low, slightly gull-wing monoplane flying boat
- Pc. 5: 1 x (??) hp (??) V12 tractor engine; span 8.15 m
- Pc. 5: Tilting engine for T/O; essentially refined Pc.1 concept

Pegna Pc. 6 - (Project) 1927; study for 1929 Schneider Trophy
- Pc. 6: Strutted low, constant dihedral monoplane flying boat
- Pc .6: 1 x (??) hp (??) V12 tractor engine; span 9.85 m
- Pc. 6: Similar to Pc. 5 but with an added tail-mounted screw

Pegna Pc. 7 - 1929 idrovolante ala scafo with hydrovanes; x 2
- Pc. 7: aka Piaggio-Pegna Pc.7; aka Piaggio P.7
- Pc. 7: (As envisioned) With retractable planing 'wing-hull'
- Pc. 7: (As planned) Hydrovanes; 1 x 1,000 hp Fiat AS.5 V12
- Pc. 7: (As built) Hydrovanes; 1 x 800 hp I-F Asso 500 V12
- Pc. 7: MdA order; 24 March 1928; MM126 and MM127*
-- * Neither actually flew but both airframes were completed

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No doubt, hesham will have more to add when he returns. Can others fill in missing details or have other Pegna projects to contribute?

 

[hesham]

Amazing work my dear Apophenia as usual,

there is P.B.N. and P.B.N.2,also please add some projects in this thread,

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/pegna-projects.25006/

 

[hesham]

Also,

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/giovanni-pegna-flying-wing.6089/#post-281792

 

[Apophenia]

... there is P.B.N. and P.B.N.2,also please add some projects in this thread...

Thanks hesham. P.B.N. is already listed (it is the third entry under Costruzione Navali Aeronautsche ('Pegna-Bonmartini') Designs.)

I have not listed the P.B.N.2 because I could discern no differences between the P.B.N. and this 'P.B.N.2'.

As for Pegna's flying wing seaplane concept, it was not listed because no designation seems to have ever been applied and 'ala volante' seems to have been an after-the-fact description (as opposed to a contemporary 'naming').

 

[hesham]

I have not listed the P.B.N.2 because I could discern no differences between the P.B.N. and this 'P.B.N.2'.

My dear Apophenia,

I will check,because they already called it that,and other source was called it P.B.N. only ?.

 

[Apophenia]

I will check,because they already called it that,and other source was called it P.B.N. only ?.

Yes, I noticed that too ... one drawing definitely read "P.B.N.2". Perhaps there were some invisible internal difference ... or I have simply missed the external distinction(s)?

 

[hesham]

Yes, I noticed that too ... one drawing definitely read "P.B.N.2". Perhaps there were some invisible internal difference ... or I have simply missed the external distinction(s)?

You are right my dear Apophenia.

 

[Apophenia]

There is a certain amount of wobble in the quoted output of the S.P.A. 6A engines. In your clipping, they quote "HP" but, I suspect that my "200 hp" may have been 'translated' directly from cv - and a proper conversion from cavallo vapore to horsepower would have resulted in something closer to 205 hp.

If the P.B.N. and our 'P.B.N.2' are one and the same, that prompts another thought (albeit, one with no evidence whatsoever!). Might our 'P.B.N.2' simply be the P.B.N. as built? That, in turn, suggests a purely hypothetical 'P.B.N.1' as the originally planned HS 8F-powered twin-engined design.

Or ... maybe I'm just overthinking this