Caproni Ca.90

The Caproni Ca.90 was a prototype heavy bomber designed and built by Caproni, and at the time of its maiden flight on 13 October 1929 it was the largest land-based aircraft in the world apart from the slightly larger First World War Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII. It was a six-engined inverted sesquiplane built mainly of steel tubing, with chrome-nickel steel joints, doped fabric over most of the fuselage and wings and corrugated duralumin sheeting forward. Six Isotta Fraschini Asso 1000 water-cooled engines of 750 kilowatts each gave a maximum speed of 205 kilometres per hour, and it was designed to carry 8,000 kilograms of bombs with twelve defensive machine guns. Only one was ever built. The Dornier Do X flying boat that flew later that year was larger in span and weight, but the Ca.90 remained the largest landplane until the Tupolev ANT-20 arrived in 1934.