W.Green, G.Swanborough The Complete Book of Fighters
ADAMOLI-CATTANI Italy
In 1918, Signori Adamoli and Cattani designed the smallest practicable single-seat fighter around the then most powerful rotary engine extant, the 200 hp Le Rhone. The fighter, which was of wooden construction with fabric skinning, was an unequal-span unstaggered biplane with Warren-truss type interplane bracing, unusual features consisting of the supplanting of orthodox ailerons with hinged and interlinked wing leading edges, and the use of rigid tubes rather than cables for actuation of the movable tail surfaces. The prototype was begun at the Farina works in Turin, but transferred to the Officine Moncenisio in Condove for completion. Armament comprised two 7,7-mm machine guns. When flight testing was initiated it was discovered that the Le Rhone engine developed only 160 hp and the fighter was thus seriously underpowered, development being abandoned after limited trials. The following estimated performance data were based on the use of a fully rated engine.
Max speed, 186 mph (300 km/h).
Endurance, 2.25 hrs.
Empty weight, 1,036 lb (470 kg).
Loaded weight, 1,488 lb (675 kg).
Span. 28 ft 2h in (8,60 m).
Length 20 ft 0 1/8 in (6,10 m).
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J.Davilla Italian Aviation in the First World War. Vol.2: Aircraft A-H (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 74)
Adamoli-Cattani Fighter
Enea Cattani began studying his design for a rotary-engined fighter in winter 1917. Cattaneo gained valuable experience at Rome’s Istituto Centrale Aeronautico, which he joined in 1911. In 1914 was put in charge of the Institute’s Turin section. This opportunity eventually resulted in his joining the Pomilio Company as Chief of Projects and Developments. Cattani joined with Carlo Adamoli, to design a modern fighter. Construction was started in Turin by the G. Farina company but was still incomplete at the end of the war.
Officine Moncenisio, another Turin firm which, under the company name Bauchiero built 400 Pomilio PDs, SAML S.2s, and SVAs.
The Adamoli-Cattani was not intended to serve as a testbed to evaluate the team’s designs. Once enough experience had been gained, the next step would have been the production of a practical combat fighter.
The Adamoli-Cattani fighter was a compact single-engine, biplane of mixed construction. It had fabric-covered wooden wings braced by Warren struts, while the circular section fuselage was fabricated light metal alloy, covered by metal panels up until the point behind the cockpit, where the covering was in fabric. The engine mount was very strong, being created from a stamped steel girder. The intended engine was a 200-hp Le Rhone rotary.
Lateral control was achieved by varying the camber wing leading edges. In other words, the airfoil forward of the front spar could rotate differentially for each of the four wing panels. The mobile portions of the upper and lower wings were rigidly linked, and their movement acted on the leading edge instead of the trailing edge - essentially a reversal of the way that ailerons were used to control a plane.
Due to the end of the war, the prototype was abandoned so it is uncertain if this unusual form of controlling an aircraft would have been successful. Cattani, himself, had doubts about the system of lateral control; but, then again, that was what the the team’s first aircraft was intended to evaluate.
Although always listed as a “fighter”, the aircraft was unarmed; indeed there were never any plans to fit it with weapons. The performance figures of a maximum speed 300 km/h and endurance 2 hours 45 minutes are projections, and were probably unrealistic.
Camurrati states that construction began at the Turin factory, but that the aircraft was transferred to the Officine Moncenisio in Condove for final assembly. He also notes that it was fitted with two 7,7-mm machine guns and was test flown. The engine developed only 160-hp and further testing was abandoned. This information contradicts other, more recent, Italian sources.
Adamoli-Cattani single-seat aircraft (no engine was ever fitted)
Wingspan 6.45 m; length 4.80 m; wing area 17.85 sq m
Empty weight 470 kg; loaded weight 675 kg;
One built
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