CFS2 F Giulli Piaggio P23R

Combat flight simulator2 F Giulli Piaggio P23R

CFS2 F Giulli Piaggio P23R

Piaggio designed the P.23R specifically to break speed records for commercial transport aircraft. It was a three-engine low-wing cantilever monoplane with twin tail fins and rudders. The three 671-kilowatt (900-horsepower) Isotta-Fraschini Asso ("Ace") XI R V-12 engines were mounted in aerodynamically clean, sleek cowlings and each drove a three-bladed propeller. The fuselage was pencil-shaped. The crew of two sat side-by-side in separate open cockpits, each protected by a windscreen. The P.23R later was re-engined with three 746-kilowatt (1,001-horsepower) Piaggio P.XI RC.40 radial engines and its landing gear was modified. In addition, both cockpits were enclosed with canopies.
Operational historyThe P.23R first flew in 1936. On 30 December 1938, it carried a payload of 5000 kilograms (11,023 pounds) at an average speed of 404 kilometres per hour (250.8 miles per hour), setting new world records over both the 1,000-kilometer (620 mi) and 2,000-kilometer (1,200 mi) distances. Although the P.23R appeared in Allied wartime recognition manuals as a potential bomber, development of the type had already been abandoned in 1939. When the P.23R was impressed by the Regia Aeronautica it gained a new designation as the P.123.
During 1942 it was seriously considered as potential "America Bomber" for a single hit run over New York with no return possibility (the crew should be rescued in open sea by Italian ocean going submarine). The declared payload was 4,500 Kg, but for New York bomb run should be less (around 1,000 Kg). The latest word from Mussolini about the New York raid was to not drop bomb over the town but propaganda papers (like the Vienna raid of D'Annunzio during WWI) or a load of Sicilian Oranges with tri-colour parachutes. Anyway the only prototype crashed during 1942 and it was scrapped.
Compared to other Italian aircrafts, the Piaggio P.23R was structurally very advanced. It’s all metal structure was designed by Giovanni Casiraghi. The general aerodynamic project was by Giovanni Pegna, a very ingenious and clever engineer, that prefer to use wood at his designs.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_P.23R

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