Caproni AP.1

The Caproni Bergamaschi AP.1 was an Italian monoplane attack aircraft designed by Cesare Pallavicino. It was developed from the Ca.301, a single-seat fighter of similar design that was not put into production, as a two-seater with a more powerful Alfa Romeo radial engine, and was meant to serve as both a fighter and an attack aircraft. It was a low-wing monoplane of mixed construction with fixed landing gear whose legs were covered by trousers, an anachronism at a time when most new designs had retractable gear, although it was a monoplane when many air forces still flew biplanes. The prototype first flew on 27 April 1934. Italy used it, and Paraguay put its AP.1s into service in 1939, three of them still flying reconnaissance and ground attack missions in the Paraguayan Civil War of 1947 before withdrawal in 1949.