AEROPLANE TO AEROPLANO

Savoia Marchetti S.63        The Savoia Marchetti S.63 was an attempt to reduce the catamaran-configured S.55 to a central monohull seaplane, because the h igh command of the Italian Regia Aeronautica, initially, did not like the twin hull arrangement proposed by SIAI.    S.55 (for comparison)           The new seaplane maintained the engines and the wing of its twin hull predecessor , minus the central section and the twin boom tail arrangement.         The mono-hull prototype of the S.63, that was designed for a military purpose, featured a gunner-observer bow hatch with a machine gun. The pilots sat side by side just forward of the leading edge, where the fuselage presented a marked step down, that is visible in the top photograph.         In view of the success that the S.55 was beginning to enjoy, after the military evaluatio...

“It is certainly German. Its wings bearing the black crosses reveal it; but it’s a very odd bird. It’s running away at full speed. It’s really extraordinary: it has a cruciform empennage, but it looks like it not only has a forward propeller but also a pushing one behind the stabilizers, at the end of the tail.” Do-335 This is how Pierre Clostermann described his first encounter with the Dornier Do 335 Pfeil, over the Elbe River, in April of 1945. Ten years earlier, Alberto Jona had designed an astonishingly similar heavy fighter, the J.10. The  drawing of the J.10 that was filed  in 1935. By Roberto Gentilli  (translated by L. Pavese) The drawing of the first patent, # 342987, which was filed on June 22, 1935, depicts a large single-seat, monoplane, retractable-gear fighter. The projected aircraft was powered by an air-cooled radial engine, mounted in the conventional position in the nose, and by a fuselage mounted, in-line eng...