Caproni Trento F-5

The Caproni Trento F.5 was a small Italian two-seat trainer designed by Stelio Frati and built by Aeroplani Caproni Trento, of which only a prototype was built. By the 1950s the Caproni company had collapsed, and one of the few group members still working was Aeroplani Caproni Trento at Gardola in Trento, which had been doing aircraft maintenance and support before it decided in 1951 to design and build a small jet trainer. Frati based the F.5 on his earlier glider work. It was a low-wing all-wood monoplane with retractable tricycle landing gear and a small Turbomeca Palas turbojet in the fuselage, fed by an inlet duct on each side, with an enclosed tandem cabin for instructor and student and a jettisonable canopy. It made its maiden flight on 20 May 1952 and was the first jet aircraft developed in postwar Italy. The Italian Air Force evaluated it but showed little interest. The prototype is on display at the Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics in Trento.