J.Davilla Italian Aviation in the First World War. Vol.2: Aircraft A-H (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 74)
Bossi Aircraft
Enea Bossi and Luigi Mojoli of Milano developed several experimental types. Their work was recognized with a silver medal “Diploma di Medaglia d’argento” at the end of the first aviation exhibition in Italy, Milano, November/December 1909.
The Bossi-Mojoli biplane was tested in March 1910. A second biplane made its appearance in 1910, designated the Bossi-Mojoli II.
A new hydro-biplane designed by Bossi was entered in the “Il circuito dei laghi italiani”, 5-9 October 1913. The pilot was Francesco Deroye. There are no reports of the Bossi hydro-biplane actually competing in this competition.
The Bossi hydro-aeroplane crashed on 16 November 1913 at Comacina Island, Lago di Como. It had been piloted by Ballila Battagli.
A second crash occurred on 14 March 1914 at Lago di Como; the aircraft was piloted by Achille Landini and carried an unnamed passenger-mechanic.
Enea Bossi continued to produce Curtiss aircraft under license in Italy. The type selected were based on the Curtiss flying boats used by the Regia Marina.
Enea Bossi first experimented with model airplanes using 9-hp engines. Later Bossis began the construction of a Wright biplane that was built by FIAM (Factory Italian Balloons in Milan), which was the most oldest aeronautical company in Lombarda.
Bossi 1 - completed March 10th 1909, effected some brief flights in straight line, but remained seriously underpowered and was soon damaged in an accident.
Bossi-Mojoli 2 - Bossis with the financial and technical support of Luigi Mojoli, a rich and enthusiastic Milanese sportsman, toward the end of 1909 built a second biplane introducing changes and improvements to the Bossi 1; it was designated Bossi-Mojoli 2.The aircraft featured wings which introduced a curiously sinuous profile with triple transversal bending, imitating, according to the intentions of the builder, those of large birds. The undercarriage had skids and wheels and allowed the pilot to choose the skids or the wheels which could be retracted under manual command, according to the state of the ground on which the Bossi 2 would land. In the upper wing there was a mechanism with rubber band that allowed the automatic orientation of the wing under the pressure of the aerodynamic flow.
The wing span was 14 m and was driven by a 35 to 50-hp Zust automobile engine. It had two propellers and weighed 650 kg .The Bossi-Mojoli 2 attracted the attention and the interest of many pilots in Italy, as well as other countries.
Signoria - With the success of the Bossi 2, the association Bossi-Mojoli developed a small monoplane clearly derived from the Santos Dumont Demoiselle. Bossi succeeded in keeping the weight down in order to mimic the handling of Santos Dumont’s design. The aircraft was displayed at the aviation exhibition in Milan in November of 1909. The absence of the planned 25-hp Anzani engine suggested to those who had seen it that it was to be a glider. The extraordinarily light monoplane weighed, without an engine, 36 kg.
Dai-Dai - At the same time as he was developing the Signoria, Bossi built the Dai-Dai, another light aircraft with a 50-hp Gnome-Rhone engine. Its empty weight was only 160 kg. It had a wingspan of 7 m, a length of 8,40 m, a surface area of 24 sq. m and an undercarriage with three wheels. The Dai-Dai was exhibited on the stand of the Firm Bossis & Mojoli Costruttori, in Milan in November 1909, but the Dai-Dai’s performance turned out to be poor and the machine proved to be of little practical use.
Bossi 3 - In the period between 1910 and the 1911 Bossis built a new biplane designated Tipo Corso (Racing Type) inspired by designs of French engineer Roger Sommer. Bossi contacted the Regia Marina about his new design, designated Bossi 3. It was a single seat flying boat with a central hull, with a short fuselage and twin booms which supported the tail plane. The aircraft also had wing tip floats and was powered by a 80-hp SPA 10 radial engine. Flown by pilot Francois Deroyen the 5th and 9th of October 9, 1913, the Bossi 3 participated in the Circuit of the Italian Lakes. Despite the fact that the Bossi 3 had been specifically designed for this competition, Deroye didn’t place in the top threes. Bossi subsequently furnished a version of the same airplane with a larger upper wing fitted with ailerons. After the successful conclusion of flight testing, on 16 November 1913 the pilot Balilla Battagli completed the Como-Isola Comacina-Como race. Impressed by this accomplishment, the Italian military authorities in Italy, and particularly Brazil, became interested in acquiring Bossi’s aircraft. According to Camurati, the Brazilian Government in fact acquired examples of this flying boat powered by an 80-hp LUCT engine for its flight schools. However, there is no evidence that any Bossi served with the Brazilian military or naval air arms.
Bossi 4 - Bossi meanwhile continued in his experimentation with seaplanes introducing the Bossi 4, a biplane with twin floats and an auxiliary float under the tail. It was carried a crew of two and had a pusher configuration, the engine driving a two bladed propeller. It was built at the Garibaldi airfield in the Shops Zari of Bovisio-Mombello. It had a wingspan of 11 meters with two large floats. It was powered by an 80-hp Gnome-Rhone rotary engine. This seaplane was the first of a series built by Bossi for the War Office. It was intended to equip the Regia Marina aviation stations. During these tests, Guidoni was the commander of the Venice seaplane squadron, assisted Bossi and test were performed by a pilot named Achille Landini.
After a first flight, effected with difficulty from the Lake Como on March 12, 1914, the next day Landini and a mechanic took off again. However, the flight concluded tragically, the aircraft went out control and crashed into the lake. It was destroyed in the accident, but the pilot and mechanic survived. Achille Landini later wrote: To the beginning of the year 1914... I undertook to complete some flight testing of a prototype hydroplane, manufactured in Italy from our industry and destined for the Marina Militare. The flight tests would take place at Como Lake. In the preceding year 1913, I participated in the first aerial competition of the world organized by Arthur Mercanti, and I was the only Italian competitor to defend the national colors against a trained group of foreigners including Frenchman Garros, thought, then, to be the best aviator in the world. Although I was the youngest of age among all the competitors, I finished first in the most difficult test of the competition, particularly in the competition for climbing speed. Frenchman R. Garros remained in 2nd place in this category. In light of this achievement, I was designated to test an experimental hydroplane which was the first such machine built by our industry and destined for the Marina Militare.
On 12 March of 1914 I began the experiments with the new hydroplane but since the first flight I ascertained that there were serious defects that I informed the planner-builder of who, incredibly, postponed performing any changes until flight testing had been completed! Before effecting the second flight I repeated the severity of the defects to the builder but, unfortunately, I was given only vague reassurances. Gives the urgency of the presentation of the hydroplane to the Direction of the Military Arsenal in Venice, I decided to effect a second flight in view of the limited time and never anticipating the final disastrous result of such a flight On 13 March 1914 the engineer and I, after a brief run on the waters of the lake, took off flying in the direction of Bellagio. After around 6 km and with difficulty in maintaining stability, the hydroplane, was hit by sudden and strong gusts of wind that also caused a rapid and unavoidable degradation in the the limited stability of the aircraft in flight. The hydroplane seriously slowed and losing a lot of speed, fell off to the side and turned upside-down. As I was not strapped into to the seat and had no parachute I was thrown out from over 150 meters falling into the lake vertically. The engineer instead fell with the big biplane which had enormous floats and a disproportionate weight in comparison to the strength of the engine. The wreckage turned upside-down and the hydroplane appeared on the surface on the lake and on the craft I saw, with a sigh of relief the engineer crouched and trembling. Swimming with a lot of work, I drew near to the apparatus seizing the craft next to where the mechanic sat. We were saved by a fisherman that casually operated in the vicinity and during the journey toward Como we met a motorboat on which was the planner-builder of the hydroplane accused me of the disaster as according to him I was performing stunts! However, it was a carcass which was so unstable that it was a miracle it could fly. And in fact a strong puff of wind has been enough to turn it upside-down. This letter, written by Landini at 60 years of age, greatly exaggerated the height from which he fell.
Engineer Rambaldo Jacchia had collaborated with Enea Bossi in the design, but exactly what role he played remains a mystery.
Because of these bad experiences Boss instead decided to manufacture French Borel Bo.11 floatplanes under license at the Zari factory at Bovisio Mombello. He succeeded in selling seven of these floatplanes (modified in their dimensions by Bossi), in substitution for the rejected Bossi 4, to the Regia Marina. The Borels were assigned the flight school at Venice.
