Caproni Ca.114

The Caproni Ca.114 was a fighter biplane produced in Italy in the early 1930s which was flown operationally in Peru in the 1930s and 1940s.

Design
The Caproni company designed the Ca.114 in 1933 to compete against other designs to provide the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) with a new single-seat fighter. Its airframe was derived from the Caproni Ca.113 trainer, and it was a single-bay biplane with staggered wings of equal span. The fuselage was made of steel tubing covered by detachable metal panels in the forward part of the aircraft and by fabric in the after portion, and the two-spar wooden wings were fabric-covered. The Bristol Mercury IV radial engine was geared, supercharged, rated at 395 kilowatts at 4,000 meters (530 horsepower at 13,125 feet), and drove an adjustable-pitch three-bladed propeller. Armament consisted of two fixed forward-firing 7.7-millimeter machine guns.

Operational history
After official trials, the Regia Aeronautica rejected the Ca.114 in favour of the Fiat CR.32. Nevertheless, Caproni found a buyer in the Peruvian Aviation Corps, which ordered 12 examples in late 1933. These arrived in Peru in April 1934. Peru ordered 24 more Ca.114s, and these arrived in two more batches, the last batch arriving in Peru in January 1935. The Peruvian Ca.114s took part in the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War of 1941-1942 and were still in service as late as 1944.

Operators

 * Cuerpo Aeronáutico del Perú (Peruvian Aviation Corps)
 * Cuerpo Aeronáutico del Perú (Peruvian Aviation Corps)

1934-1935
1 Escuadrón de Caza, 2nd. Aviation Squadron (12 machines) Las Palmas, Lima

1935-1938
1st. Escuadrón de Caza, 1st. Aviation Squadron (6 machines + 2 reserve a/c) Commander Ruiz Gallo AB, Chiclayo

Escuela de Aviación Militar Jorge Chávez, Las Palmas, Lima (3 Machines)

1939-1942
42 & 43 Escuadrillas, XXI Escuadrón de Caza (8 machines) Commander Ruiz Gallo AB, Chiclayo

28 Escuadrón de Instrucción (3 Machines) Las Palmas, Lima

1942-1944
28 Escuadrón de Instrucción (4 machines) Las Palmas, Lima