Caproni Ca.53

The Caproni Ca.53 was an Italian prototype light bomber built in the last months of World War I: a single-engine, two-seat triplane with a fixed undercarriage and a rectangular plywood-covered wooden fuselage with open tandem cockpits, the rear one with a ventral gun position. Caproni answered a 1917 specification for a bomber able to carry 400 kg at 200 km/h. It was completed in 1918 and first flew that year at Taliedo, in its first phase with different engines, and drew interest from US and British forces; a 700 bhp Fiat A.14 was envisaged to reach 240 km/h. Because large bombers took priority and performance disappointed, it did not enter production, and the four-passenger Ca.54 airliner and Ca.55 floatplane derivatives stayed on the drawing board.