Origins
General Valle (Chief of Staff of the Regia Aeronautica) initiated the "R-plan" - a program designed to modernize Italy's air force, and to give it a strength of 3,000 aircraft by 1940. In late 1934 a competition was held for a bomber with the following specifications:
- Speed: 330 km/h (210 mph) at 4,500 m (14,800 ft) and 385 km/h (239 mph) at 5,000 m (16,000 ft).
- Rate of climb: 4,000 m (13,000 ft) in 12½ minutes.
- Range: 1,000 km (620 mi) with a 1,200 kg (2,600 lb) bombload.
- Ceiling: 8,000 m (26,000 ft).
The ceiling and range specifications were not met, but the speed was exceeded by almost all the machines entered. At the end of the competition, the "winners" were the Ca.135 (with 204 aircraft ordered), the Fiat BR.20 (204), the Piaggio P.32 (144), the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 (96), the CANT Z.1007 (49), and the Piaggio P.32 (12).
This array of aircraft was proof of the anarchy, clientelarism, and inefficiency that afflicted the Italian aviation industry. Worse was the continuous waste of resources by the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force). Orders were given for aircraft that were already obsolete. The winners of the competition were not always the best - the BR.20 was overlooked in favour of the SM.79, an aircraft which was not even entered in the competition.
Read more about this topic: Caproni Ca.135
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