Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano

The Caproni Ca.60 Transaereo, often called the Noviplano, meaning nine-wing, or Capronissimo, was the prototype of a large nine-wing flying boat intended to become a 100-passenger transatlantic airliner. It had eight engines and three sets of triple wings. Only one was built, by the Caproni company, to the design of the Italian aviation pioneer Gianni Caproni. It was tested on Lake Maggiore in 1921, with a brief maiden flight on 12 February or 2 March and a second flight on 4 March, after which it crashed on the water shortly after takeoff and broke up on impact. The wreck was further damaged when it was towed ashore and, in spite of Caproni's intention to rebuild it, the project was abandoned because of its cost. A few surviving parts are on display at the Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics and at the Volandia aviation museum. The listed figures give a crew of eight, a length of 22.6 metres, a wingspan of 30.5 metres and a maximum takeoff mass of 26,000 kilograms.