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The Transaereo was unlike any aircraft ever built. With 8 engines, 9 wings, and room for
100 passengers. And it was going to do what had never been done before. Fly passengers
all the way across the Atlantic, when ocean crossings were still only possible by boat.
But in 1921, flight was still in its infancy. And this enormous machine was setting out
to do the impossible.
For centuries, travelling from Europe to North America meant crossing the Atlantic aboard
a ship. And in the 18th century, it took a sailing ship weeks to make the journey. In
the 19th century, faster and more reliable steamships could make the crossing in just
over a week. By the 20th century, enormous steam turbine ocean liners could cross the
Atlantic in a matter of days.
But after centuries of progress ships had more or less reached their limit. Ocean crossings
weren't going to get much faster. And it was right around this time that some were beginning
to look to a new technology. In June of 1919, two daring British aviators John Alcock and
Arthur Brown set out to cross the Atlantic in an airplane.
Taking off from the tip of North America aboard a heavily modified WWI-era bomber, the two
pilots barely survived fierce north Atlantic storms, failing equipment, and even a crash
landing in Europe. But they made it, completing the world's first non-stop flight across the
Atlantic in just 16 hours.
They received a hero s welcome. But despite their achievement, regular passenger-carrying
flights across the Atlantic were at least another 20 years away. Because in 1919, knowledge
about aerodynamics and the mechanics of flight still were not fully understood.
But a pioneering Italian aircraft builder by the name Giovanni Caproni wasn't going
to wait around. In the same year Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop crossing, Caproni
was already overseeing construction of an enormous transatlantic airliner. A giant flying
boat he dubbed the Ca. 60 Transaereo.
While Alcock and Brown s plane carried just the two daring pilots, Caproni s flying boat
would accommodate one hundred passengers along with a crew of eight. These were unheard of
numbers for 1919.
And while Caproni had already made a name for himself building Italy s first airplane
and many successful military aircraft, many dismissed his giant flying boat
as a complete fantasy.
But as photos of the enormous aircraft appeared in the press, the world began to take Caproni
s ambitions more seriously. Because in many ways, he was a visionary who had long dreamt
about the potential of large passenger aircraft. Especially in parts of the world where transportation
infrastructure was still underdeveloped.
But no one had ever attempted to build an aircraft this large. And Caproni's design
philosophy seems to have been. to take whatever was known to work, and to do a lot more of
it. Because with nine wings, the Transaereo was unconventional even by 1920 s standards.
And also had eight of the most powerful engines available at the time, configured with some
engines pulling the aircraft forward while others pushed. Keeping the enormous plane
together were more than 250 meters of struts and over two kilometers of bracing wire.
Inside the Transaereo were benches for one hundred passengers and large windows for taking
in panoramic views. Operating the aircraft would be a team effort. With two pilots upfront
in an open air cockpit, and two flight engineers sitting on top to operate the engines.
To communicate, the pilots and flight engineers would rely on a complex
system of lights and indicators.
The Transaereo was an extraordinary machine, built to usher in a new era of mass air travel.
The Transaereo made its first test flight sometime in February or March of 1921. Managing
to reach 80 km/h before briefly lifting out of the water. Incredibly, the Transaereo could
actually fly.
But there s a reason why aircraft aren't built with nine wings. Arranged in neat a row, each
set of wings interfered with the ability of the next set to produce lift. And all of the
struts and wire rigging produced enormous drag. The Transaereo's center of lift also
looked to be way above it s center of mass, which made the aircraft stable but extremely
difficult to control. So you can probably guess where this is going.
On it s second test flight, things didn't go so well. This time the Transaereo lifted
off, reached 100 km/h and then promptly smashed back into the water. Leaving a broken tangled
mess. In an instant, Caproni s dreams of transatlantic air travel were shattered.
But even if the Transaereo had been airworthy, It s not entirely clear how it was supposed
to make it all the way across the Atlantic. With a cruising speed of just 130 km/h and
hour and a range of about 600 km, the journey from Italy to America would have taken days.
Requiring at least a dozen refueling stops. Many of which would have been in the middle
of the Atlantic, where taking on fuel from a waiting ship would have been impractical
if not dangerous.
But Caproni firmly believed that mass air travel was the future. And he had the right
idea, but at the wrong time. Because the Transaereo was a plane designed to do what was still
impossible in 1920. And it would take another two decades before aviation technology would
catch up, allowing for regular transatlantic passenger flights to begin in 1939.
But a decade after the Transaero, Caproni was back at it. This time, helping to design
what many claim is the ugliest aircraft ever built.
But in many ways, the Stipa-Caproni was even more forward thinking. And some even claim
that this plane helped pave the way for turbofan engines. You can learn more about what makes
this plane so special in my latest video now on Nebula.
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