An Italian bomber Piaggio P.108B warm-up its engines before the take-off. The aircraft has the upper surfaces finished in dark olive green and hasn’t the lengthened exhausts. Therefore is a plane not still prepared for the night missions accomplished on 1942 by few P.108 of 274th Squadriglia against Gibraltar. Cleary visible the four radial engines double row 18 cylinder Piaggio P.XII RC.35, power output 1,350 HP (993 kW), take off power 1,500 HP. The lacking reliability of this engine was the principal sources of the many troubles of this, in a sense excellent, aircraft, the only authentic strategic bomber of the Italian Air Force. Victor Sierra

Warming-up the engines

A picture of IV Raduno Internazionale del Littorio (Fourth Littorio’s International Air Meeting, the Littorio or Fascio Littorio is the emblem of the Fascist Party), competed from 15 to 21 July 1939 along a series of courses included into an area from Rimini, Miramare airfield, to Venice, San Nicolò del Lido airfield, with three types of challenge in closed course: speed, regularity and economy. The Raduno Internazionale del Littorio was one of the most important international contest organized by the Italian Air Ministry for propaganda reasons in favor to Aeronautics and to Fascist Regime, when the air sports was strictly controlled by the Air Force, and open to competitors both civilian both militaries. In the same times the Italian aeronautic industry built a number of remarkable touring sport airplanes single and two engines, two or four seat, many of them with a possibility of military use as trainer or liaison aircraft, while the Air Ministry published some tender for standard tourist airplanes allocated to Aerocentri (Air Club) of the RUNA (Royal National Aeronautic Union). But, as the 1938 edition, also the Raduno del Littorio 1939 was prerogative of the amazing German équipe as Riechers (Arado Ar 79) Dietrich (Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun) and Beauvais (Bf 108). The photo, likely at Rimini, show the competitor contest number 49, crew Cisaro-Wild. It’s an Italian aircraft, the prototype of the Nardi FN.305 with a 200-HP Fiat A70 radial engine (the series model will have an in-line engine Alfa Romeo 115) which, born military, first flight 19 February 1937 with the military registration MM277, test pilot Arturo Ferrarin, was converted in sport aircraft. According the Italian Civil Aeronautical Register the Certificate of Registration, number 2473, was released to I-ABYM, based at Turin, owner Paolo Cisaro and Alessandro Wild, on 14 July 1939, a day exactly before the start of the IV Raduno del Littorio. Note in background two German aircraft: a Focke-Wulf FW 58 (not a competitor aircraft, in this edition of the Raduno the twin engines was excluded) and the Junkers Ju 52 D-AQAU, WNr.5650, DLH RLM, employed as support aircraft of the German team. Victor Sierra



Littorio’s International Air Meeting

A detail of the most interesting feature of the Piaggio P.108: the twin-barrel remote controlled Breda Z2 turrets installed upper the external engine cowlings, each armed with a pair of 12.7mm (0.50) Breda-SAFAT machine guns (0.50). This feature was adopted only by another strategic bomber of the WW2, the American Boeing B-29. Excluding the only 12.7mm in the nose turret , not adopted by the series aircraft (P-108B), and a part the weapons of the remote controlled turret, the Piaggio four-engines airplanes had a 12.7mm machine gun in a belly turret and two 7.7mm waist machine guns (one right-hand, the other left-hand). Victor Sierra