The AUT.18 was a prototype aircraft developed by Aeronautica Umbra Societá Anonima (Umbra Aeronautics Anonymous Society) soon after the beginning of the World War II.
It was designed by the engineers Felice Trojani and Umberto Nobile, hence the AUT designation of the airplane. Nobile was, at that time collaborating with the airships Norge and Italia in their expedition to the north pole.
The Regia Aeronautica issued the Progetto R (Project R), where the R stood for riammodernamento, which consisted on the modernisation of the air force, and for that they were in need of a monoplane fighter that could compete against the more modern British, French or even German airplanes, like the Hurricane, the Dewoitine D.520 or the Bf.109, many Italian aircraft developers presented their candidates, Caproni competed with the Caproni-Vizzola F.5, Fiat with the Fiat G.50, Macchi with the Macchi C.200, IMAM with the Ro.51, Reggiane with the Re.2000 and AUSA with the AUT.18. The requirement was won both by the G.50 and the C.200.
The AUT.18 made it's maiden flight on 22nd April 1939 in the city of Foligno, in the Italian region of Umbria, and was powered by a FIAT A.74, engine that could deliver 1044hp of power. It was entirely made out of stressed-skin metal covered in duralumin and featured an iwardly retracting and retractable tail-wheel. It was armed with two 12,7mm (0.50in) Breda-SAFAT machine-guns mounted in the wings, just outboard of the carriage, this was an unique feature that only this fighter had, as every other of the candidates had their main machine guns mounted in the fuselage.
Anyway, flight trials were disappointing and left the fighter behind the other fighters of the Progetto R. No production orders were placed and the prototype was returned from Guidonia (the test centre of the Regia Aeronautica) to Foligno in order to modify it on 20th February 1940. It was refitted with a FIAT A.80RC.41 engine and flew again on 5th November 1940 however the performance increase was marginal and, as the other main fighters were already in production and some of them even serving at the front lines, the prototype was abandoned.
Apparently an assault version (Assalto in Italian) was also projected. In the Italian aerial doctrine prior to the World War II, there were two types of ground support, the traditional one, delivering bombs of small caliber at the front lines, and the assalto one, which consisted on supporting ground troops using strafing tactics. As during the Spanish Civil War the strafing prooved to be very popular and even effective in some cases, some airplanes were designed specifically to make strafing attack and such is the case with the AUT.18, however it was never built.
It's unknown what happened to the modified prototype after the 5th November 1940, most probably it was transferred to Germany to be evaluated. It was also rumoured that it was captured by the British forces, but it's more likely that it was destroyed in an air raid at Orvieto.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronautica_Umbra_Trojani_AUT.18
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
No comments:
Post a Comment