Caproni Ca.97

The Caproni Ca.97 was a utility monoplane designed and produced by Caproni in the latter half of the 1920s as a high-wing braced trimotor of conventional configuration, with one engine in the nose and two in strut-mounted nacelles at the fuselage sides. It was an all-metal aircraft and could be fitted with between one and three engines, so that many were built with only the nose engine or only the two nacelle engines, giving a range of power outputs for different purposes. Civilian and military operators both used it, from utility transport to limited airliner service, and the Regia Aeronautica routinely used it for colonial policing in North Africa. Variants included a three-engined prototype, colonial transports, a colonial reconnaissance bomber and an armed reconnaissance version, the Ca.97 Ri, with one 370 kilowatt Alfa Romeo Jupiter engine.