Thursday 12 January 2023

Breda Ba.75

 

The Breda Ba.75 was a Italian two-seat reconnaissance multirole airplane with ground attack capabilities. It was built by Società Italiana Ernesto Breda (Italian Society Ernesto Breda) during the late 1930s and never went beyond the prototype stage.

The project originated from a modernization requirement of the previous Breda Ba.65, the forerunner, which although having served successfully in the Spanish Civil War, it was already showing obsolescence during the late 1930s. The new project, commended again to Antonio Parano and Giuseppe Panzeri (lead designers of the Breda Ba.64 and Ba.65) was different in having a new repositioned wing, better armour and a more spacious fuselage with room for a crew of three, pilot, observer and bomber, for whom the lower part of the fuselage was equipped with large windows. The higher positioning of the wing also meant more clearance which lead to the adoption of a fixed landing gear as a retractable one was not possible because it would have been too long.
It was powered by a single Isotta-Fraschini K.14 radial engine which yielded 900 hp of power and was armed with two 7.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns placed in the wings. This was a step backwards, typical of the Italian aircraft of the time. For comparison, the Ba.65 was armed with two 7,7 mm machine guns, the later versions with 12,7 mm ones plus a rear turret. 
The Ba.75 could also carry up to 500 kg (1.102 lb) of bombs. This was on pair with the factual payload the Ba.65 could carry.

The only built prototype, with military registration MM.301 was completed in early 1939 and was tested soon after at Guidonia. It was deemed as obsolete, so the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Italian Air Force) didn't show any interest at all, causing the termination of the project in early 1940. After unsuccessfully trying to sale the plane to other countries, Breda abandoned the project for good.






Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breda_Ba.75
2nd https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breda_Ba.75

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