Caproni Campini Ca.183bis

The Caproni-Campini Ca.183bis was a projected high-altitude fighter intended to have both piston and jet propulsion.

Design and development
The Ca.183bis was intended to have a 1,250 hp Daimler-Benz DB 605 in the nose driving a six-bladed contra-rotating propeller, augmented by a secondary piston engine behind the cockpit driving a Campini compressor, expected to furnish a 60 mph boost from jet thrust for an optimistic maximum speed of 460 mph with a range of 1,242 miles. One 20 mm cannon was to be in the prop hub with four more in the wings. Weight was to be 16,538 lb.

The Italians already had knowledge of the German jets through their Rome-Berlin pact and worked together at Riva del Garda (Renamed the Hermann Goering Institute)) on advanced jet designs that included a Turboproietti Jet Round Bomb (Italian V-1 type unmanned weapon) and a disc aircraft with two slung turbojets, various rim intakes for another internal engine, a domed canopy, and two canted tailfins. This was only discovered recently after the designer died and the plans were discovered in his apartment. Apparently, this is probably what Mussolini referred to as the "Piastra di Volo" (Flying Plate) design.