Caproni PS.1

The Caproni PS.1, also known as the Pallavicino PS-1 and Caproni Ca.303, was an Italian four-seater sportsplane designed and built to compete in Challenge 1934, the European touring plane championships. Cesare Pallavicino, formerly of Breda, designed it after joining Caproni in 1933, and two prototypes, registered I-FRAN and I-MELO, were built. It was a four-seat cabin monoplane of metal construction with cantilever low wings, a fabric-covered steel-framed fuselage, folding wings with rounded tips, retractable landing gear and a radial engine driving a two-bladed propeller. In the technical evaluation it placed second behind the Messerschmitt Bf 108; one of the two aircraft finished the contest in 18th place of 19 finishing crews, while the other withdrew after a landing trial damaged its engine and propeller. I-MELO was rebuilt in the late 1930s as the Caproni Ca.166.