The Caproni Ca-18 observation two-seater was the first aircraft of Italian design that formed the sole equipment of an Italian air unit.
It was designed by Gianni Caproni (1886-1957) and built here at Vizzola Ticino. The Ca-18 followed the general Blériot layout, with a wooden truss fuselage, but the wings and tailplane had metal spars and wooden ribs. The landing gear had rubber-chord shock absorbers and large wheels. Before the adoption of standardized designations it was also known as the Caproni Type 1913, 80 HP and Ca-2. Its derivatives included the Ca-19, with an 80 HP Le Rhone, and the Ca-20, the world’s first fighter aircraft, equipped with a machine-gun, 110 HP engine and reduced span wings.
The first Ca-18 flew in 1913, possibly in the hands of Emilio Pensuti (1890-1918). Series production was undertaken by the Battaglione Aviatori, which acquired the Vizzola workshops following the Caproni defeat in the 1913 Military Competition in Turin. The entire production batch was accepted by April 1914, serving first with the 6th and then with the 15th Squadron in Piacenza, where they replaced the Blériots when it became a Siege Artillery Squadron. On 5 May 1915 a Ca-18 over flew Quarto, near Genova, where Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863-1938) seized the unveiling of a monument to Garibaldi’s volunteers to launch his interventionist campaign. The Ca-18 served operationally in the early weeks of the First World War.
The Ca-18 on display carries the serial 231 of the sixth production aircraft, accepted in March 1914 and with the 15th Squadriglia in April 1915 as the personal mount of Sub-Lieutenant Ettore Croce. Preserved by the manufacturer, it was displayed by the Caproni Museum in both Taliedo (1940) and Vizzola Ticino (1970-1986). It is owned by the Caproni family and recently underwent conservation work at Celin Avio.

Thanks to: Famiglia Caproni.