It was designed by Cesare Pallavicino (who would also design , after the war, the famous scooter Lambretta, along with the Piaggio Vespa) and was based on the previous Caproni Ca.308 Borea transport and passenger plane. The Ca.309 was initially intended to replace the obsolete IMAM Ro.1 biplane (itself being a license production of the Dutch Fokker C.V) with reconnaissance and ground attack capabilities.
The Ca.309 was a low-wing cantilever monoplane powered by two 390 hp Alfa-Romeo 115-II in-line engines on each wing.
The Ca.309 served with the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Italian Air Force) in Libya, where, in June 1940, just when Italy declared war on France, many Ca.309 based on Western Libya, made some reconnaissance flights along the Libyan-Tunisian border. They took part in every battle in the North African Theatre during 1940, with good operational results, until 1943 when Axis forces were defeated in Africa.
After that, the surviving planes were sent to Italy, where they served mainly as transports and reconnaissance trainers, in fact, in February 1943, the Scuola Osservazione Aerea (Aerial Observation School) in the town of Cerveteri, close to Rome, had a total of 6 Ca.309 in charge.
There were two main unofficial sub-variants, the Ca.309 armed with a 20 mm cannon and the Ca.309 Sanitario (Sanitary). The up-armed Ca.309 was made shortly after the Italian entrance to the war, under the request of the Comando Aviazione Libia (Libyan Aviation Command) by adding a Breda 20 mm machine gun placed under the nose. This modification was requested by Marshall Italo Balbo himself during the very first days of the hostilities in Septentrional Africa. He was looking for an effective way of attacking British reconnaissance vehicles, which constituted a serious threat for Italian positions in the Cyrenaica region. As Balbo was killed by friendly fire on 28th June 1940, his tactics couldn't ve put into use.
In September 1940, in Guidonia (the testing grounds for the Regia Aeronautica), the Sanitary version was tuned and tested. A revision of the internal load was in order to improve the take off characteristics and, therefore, total fuel load was reduced from 575 kg to 320 kg and the total amount of transportable patients was also reduced from three to two. By the first week of October 1940, the aircraft was ready and was sent to Libya, where any trace of its service was lost.
A total of 247 Ca.309 were manufactured at Cantieri Aeronautici Bergamaschi (Caproni's main factory) at Ponte San Pietro from 1936 until 1944, some of them being made after Italian Capitulation. There were also plans for a 'Super-Ghibli' (an improved version powered by two Isotta-Fraschini Beta engines, with a redesigned nose) which could transport either 8 paratroopers or 600 kg (1323 pounds) of bombs. Some studies were also made to convert the Ghibli in a meteorological observation plane, by completely redesigning the fuselage and engine arrangement (it would've been powered by just one engine placed at the nose) and the possibility of having the fuselage of a Ca.311, powered by the engines of the Ca.309 was also considered.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.309
2. http://www.flyinglions.eu/storia/aviazione/item/233-caproni-cab-ca-309-ghibli.html (translated)
3. https://www.valka.cz/Caproni-Ca-309-Ghibli-t16152
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