Piaggio P.108

The Piaggio P.108 Bombardiere was an Italian four-engine heavy bomber that served with the Regia Aeronautica in the Second World War. Designed by Giovanni Casiraghi, an engineer with experience in the United States, it was an all-metal low-wing monoplane with retractable undercarriage and four Piaggio P.XII radial engines. The prototype flew in November 1939 and service began in 1941. It was the only four-engine strategic bomber the Italian air force used in the war. Besides the P.108B bomber, which was built in the most numbers, the family included an anti-ship version with a large gun, a 32-passenger airliner called the P.108C and a military transport. Its bomber crews flew missions over Gibraltar, North Africa and Sicily until the armistice of September 1943, and the transport version also served with German units.