1.
Aprilia
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Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle company, one of the marques owned by Piaggio. Having started as a manufacturer of bicycles it moved on to manufacture scooters, in more recent times Aprilia has produced large sportbikes such as the 1,000 cc V-twin RSV Mille and the V4 RSV4. Aprilia has enjoyed success in road-racing. Aprilia was founded after the Second World War by Cavaliere Alberto Beggio, as a production factory at Noale. Alberto’s son, Ivano Beggio, took over the helm of the company in 1968, the first production Aprilia mopeds were named Colibrì, Daniela and Packi. Aprilia later produced a motocross bike in 1970 called the Scarabeo, produced until the end of the 1970s, the Scarabeo came in 50 and 125 cc versions. In 1977 Ivan Alborghetti from Milan, Italy won the Italian 125 and 250 cc motorcross championships on Aprilias, in 1978 Alborghetti closed the season with two third places in individual races and sixth place in the World Championship. In the 1980s Aprilia added enduro, trials and road bikes of between 50 and 600 cc, in 1981 Aprilia introduced the TL320 trials machine. In 1983 Aprilia launched to St 125 road bike, in 1984 Aprilia launched an improved model called STX, and an enduro, called the ET50. In 1985, Aprilia started outsourcing engines for some models to the Austrian company Rotax, in 1985 Aprilia launched a 125 STX and 350 STX. In 1986 Aprilia launched the AF1, a sports model, and the Tuareg. Two seasons later, on August 30,1987, at San Marino Grand Prix in Misano Loris Reggianis AF1 won the first World Speed Championship, in 1990 Aprilia launched the Pegaso 600, a road bike derived from off-road mechanics. Later, in 1992 Aprilia rider Alessandro Gramigni won the World 125 Road Racing Championship title, also in 1992, Tommy Ahvala won the World Trials Championship on an Aprilia Climber. Since then, Aprilia has 124 times won 125 and 250 cc class Grand Prix,15 Road Racing World Championship titles, many world champions started on Aprilia such as Biaggi, Capirossi, Gramigni, Locatelli, Sakata and Rossi. Also in the 1990s, Aprilia entered the market starting in 1990 with Italy’s first all-plastic scooter. In 1992, Aprilia introduced the Amico LK and the two stroke Pegaso 125, both with catalytic converters, in 1993 Aprilia launched a large diameter wheel scooter reusing the name Scarabeo with a four-stroke, four-valve engine. Later Aprilia launched more scooters such as the Leonardo, the SR, in 1995, Aprilia commissioned Philippe Starck to design the Motò which was shown in New York’s Modern Art Museum. Also in 1995 Aprilia launched the two stroke RS125 and RS250 sports bikes, in 1998 Aprilia launched what is its current flagship model the RSV Mille, a 1000cc V-Twin Superbike, and the Falco, a 1000cc V-Twin sport tourer with emphasis on sport
2.
Moto Guzzi
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Moto Guzzi is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer and the oldest European manufacturer in continuous motorcycle production. Since 2004, Moto Guzzi has been a unico azionista, an owned subsidiary. SpA, Europes largest motorcycle manufacturer and the fourth largest motorcycle manufacturer by unit sales. Moto Guzzi was conceived by two pilots and their mechanic serving in the Corpo Aeronautico Militare during World War I, Carlo Guzzi, Giovanni Ravelli. Assigned to the same Miraglia Squadron based outside Venice, the three became close, despite coming from different socio-economic backgrounds, the trio envisioned creating a motorcycle company after the war. Guzzi would engineer the motor bikes, Parodi would finance the venture, Guzzi and Parodi formed Moto Guzzi in 1921. Ravelli, ironically, had died just days after the end in an aircraft crash and is commemorated by the eagles wings that form the Moto Guzzi logo. Although with the condition that the sum, under no circumstances, likewise, I reserve the right to supervise your progress before giving my agreement to this project. The company was based in Genoa, Italy, with its headquarters in Mandello. The very earliest motorcycles bore the name G. P. though the marque quickly changed to Moto Guzzi, as the only actual shareholders, the Parodis wanted to shield their shipping fortunes by avoiding confusion of name G. P. with Giorgio Parodis initials. Carlo Guzzi initially received royalties for each motorcycle produced, holding no ownership in the company that bore his name, in 1946 Moto Guzzi formally incorporated as Moto Guzzi S. p. A. with Giorgio Parodi as chairman. Carlo Guzzis first engine design was a single that dominated the first 45 years of the companys history in various configurations. Through 1934, each bore the signature of the mechanic who built it. As originally envisioned, the company used racing to promote the brand, in the 1935 Isle of Man TT, Moto Guzzi factory rider Stanley Woods performed an impressive double victory with wins in the Lightweight TT as well as the Senior TT. Also unusual was the adoption of only one hairspring to close the exhaust valve and these were the highest performance engines Moto Guzzi sold to the general public. By contrast, the company supplied the official racing team and private racers with higher performance racing machines with varying overhead cam, multi-valve configurations, in the 1950s, Moto Guzzi, along with the Italian factories of Gilera and Mondial, led the world of Grand Prix motorcycle racing. With durable and lightweight 250 cc and 350 cc bikes designed by Giulio Carcano, the factory won five consecutive 350 cc world championships between 1953 and 1957. In realizing that low weight alone might not continue to win races for the company, despite the bikes having led many races and frequently posted the fastest lap time, it often failed to complete races because of mechanical problems
3.
Vespa
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Vespa is an Italian brand of scooter manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian, the Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S. p. A. of Pontedera, Italy to a line of scooters. Post World War II Italy, in light of its agreement to cessation of war activities with the Allies, had its aircraft industry severely restricted in capability and capacity. Piaggio emerged from the conflict with its Pontedera fighter plane plant demolished by bombing, italys crippled economy and the disastrous state of the roads did not assist in the re-development of the automobile markets. In 1944, Piaggio engineers Renzo Spolti and Vittorio Casini designed a motorcycle with bodywork fully enclosing the drivetrain, in addition to the bodywork, the design included handlebar-mounted controls, forced air cooling, wheels of small diameter, and a tall central section that had to be straddled. Officially known as the MP5, the prototype was nicknamed Paperino, Piaggio was displeased with the MP5, especially the tall central section. He contracted aeronautical engineer Corradino DAscanio, to redesign the scooter, dAscanios MP6 prototype had its engine mounted beside the rear wheel. The wheel was directly from the transmission, eliminating the drive chain. The prototype had a unit spar frame with stress-bearing steel outer panels and these changes allowed the MP6 to have a step-through design without a centre section like that of the MP5 Paperino. The MP6 design also included a single sided front suspension, interchangeable front and rear mounted on stub axles. Other features of the MP6 were similar to those on the Paperino, including the handlebar-mounted controls, upon seeing the MP6 for the first time, Enrico Piaggio exclaimed, Sembra una vespa. Piaggio effectively named his new scooter on the spot, Vespa is both Latin and Italian for wasp—derived from the vehicles body shape, The thicker rear part connected to the front part by a narrow waist, and the steering rod resembled antennae. On 23 April 1946, at 12 oclock in the office for inventions, models and makes of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in Florence. S. p. A. took out a patent for a motorcycle of a complexity of organs and elements combined with a frame with mudguards. The basic patented design allowed a series of features to be deployed on the spar-frame that would allow quick development of new models. The original Vespa featured a rear seat for a passenger. The fuel cap was located underneath the seat, which saved the cost of a lock on the fuel cap or need for additional metal work on the smooth skin
4.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
5.
Genoa
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Genoa is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015,594,733 people lived within the administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba due to its glorious past, part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. The citys rich history in notably its art, music. It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, Niccolò Paganini, Giuseppe Mazzini, Genoa, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of north-west Italy, is one of the countrys major economic centres. The city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks since the 19th century, the Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407, is among the oldest in the world and has played an important role in the citys prosperity since the middle of the 15th century. Today a number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Selex ES, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo STS, Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Piaggio Aerospace, the Genoa area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC. In ancient times this area was frequented and inhabited by Ligures, Phoenicians, Phocaeans, Greeks, and Etruscans. The city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbour probably saw use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans. In the 5th century BC was founded the first oppidum at the foot of the today called the Castle Hill which now is inside the medieval old town. The ancient Ligurian city was known as Stalia, so referred to by Artemidorus Ephesius and Pomponius Mela, Ligurian Stalia was overshadowed by the powerful Marseille and Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona. Stalia had an alliance with Rome through a foedus aequum in the course of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians accordingly destroyed it in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the Carthaginian Wars ended in 146 BC. it received municipal rights, the original castrum thenceforth expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory. Trades included skins, wood, and honey, goods were shipped to the mainland, up to major cities like Tortona and Piacenza. Among the archeological remains from the Roman period, an amphitheatre was also found, another theory traces the name to the Etruscan word Kainua which means New City and still another from the Latin word ianua, related to the name of the God Janus, meaning door or passage. The latter is in reference to its position at the centre of the Ligurian coastal arch. The Latin name, oppidum Genua, is recorded by Pliny the Elder as part of the Augustean Regio IX Liguria, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths occupied Genoa
6.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
7.
Submarine
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A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability, the term most commonly refers to a large, crewed vessel. It is also used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, such as the midget submarine. The noun submarine evolved as a form of submarine boat, by naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as boats rather than as ships. Although experimental submarines had been built before, submarine design took off during the 19th century, Submarines were first widely used during World War I, and now figure in many navies large and small. Civilian uses for submarines include marine science, salvage, exploration and facility inspection, Submarines can also be modified to perform more specialized functions such as search-and-rescue missions or undersea cable repair. Submarines are also used in tourism, and for undersea archaeology, most large submarines consist of a cylindrical body with hemispherical ends and a vertical structure, usually located amidships, which houses communications and sensing devices as well as periscopes. In modern submarines, this structure is the sail in American usage, a conning tower was a feature of earlier designs, a separate pressure hull above the main body of the boat that allowed the use of shorter periscopes. There is a propeller at the rear, and various hydrodynamic control fins, smaller, deep-diving and specialty submarines may deviate significantly from this traditional layout. Submarines use diving planes and also change the amount of water, Submarines have one of the widest ranges of types and capabilities of any vessel. Submarines can work at greater depths than are survivable or practical for human divers, modern deep-diving submarines derive from the bathyscaphe, which in turn evolved from the diving bell. In 1578, the English mathematician William Bourne recorded in his book Inventions or Devises one of the first plans for an underwater navigation vehicle and its unclear whether he ever carried out his idea. The first submersible of whose construction there exists reliable information was designed and built in 1620 by Cornelis Drebbel and it was propelled by means of oars. By the mid-18th century, over a dozen patents for submarines/submersible boats had been granted in England, in 1747, Nathaniel Symons patented and built the first known working example of the use of a ballast tank for submersion. His design used leather bags that could fill with water to submerge the craft, a mechanism was used to twist the water out of the bags and cause the boat to resurface. In 1749, the Gentlemens Magazine reported that a design had initially been proposed by Giovanni Borelli in 1680. By this point of development, further improvement in design stagnated for over a century, until new industrial technologies for propulsion. The first military submarine was the Turtle, a hand-powered acorn-shaped device designed by the American David Bushnell to accommodate a single person and it was the first verified submarine capable of independent underwater operation and movement, and the first to use screws for propulsion
8.
Airplane
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An airplane or aeroplane is a powered, fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine or propeller. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations, the broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research. Commercial aviation is a massive industry involving the flying of tens of thousands of daily on airliners. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, the Wright brothers invented and flew the first airplane in 1903, recognized as the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight. They built on the works of George Cayley dating from 1799, between 1867 and 1896, the German pioneer of human aviation Otto Lilienthal also studied heavier-than-air flight. Following its limited use in World War I, aircraft continued to develop. Airplanes had a presence in all the battles of World War II. The first jet aircraft was the German Heinkel He 178 in 1939, the first jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet, was introduced in 1952. The Boeing 707, the first widely successful commercial jet, was in service for more than 50 years. Aéroplane originally referred just to the wing, as it is a plane moving through the air, in an example of synecdoche, the word for the wing came to refer to the entire aircraft. In the United States and Canada, the airplane is used for powered fixed-wing aircraft. In the United Kingdom and most of the Commonwealth, the aeroplane is usually applied to these aircraft. Many stories from antiquity involve flight, such as the Greek legend of Icarus and Daedalus, and this machine may have been suspended for its flight. Some of the earliest recorded attempts with gliders were those by the 9th-century poet Abbas ibn Firnas, leonardo da Vinci researched the wing design of birds and designed a man-powered aircraft in his Codex on the Flight of Birds. In 1799, George Cayley set forth the concept of the airplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion. Cayley was building and flying models of fixed-wing aircraft as early as 1803, in 1856, Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Bris made the first powered flight, by having his glider LAlbatros artificiel pulled by a horse on a beach. Then Alexander F. Mozhaisky also made some innovative designs, in 1883, the American John J. Montgomery made a controlled flight in a glider. Other aviators who made similar flights at that time were Otto Lilienthal, Percy Pilcher, sir Hiram Maxim built a craft that weighed 3.5 tons, with a 110-foot wingspan that was powered by two 360-horsepower steam engines driving two propellers
9.
Seaplane
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A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can take off and land on airfields are in a subclass called amphibious aircraft. Their use gradually tailed off after World War II, partially because of the investments in airports during the war, the word seaplane is used to describe two types of air/water vehicles, the floatplane and the flying boat. A floatplane has slender pontoons, or floats, mounted under the fuselage, two floats are common, but other configurations are possible. Only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, some small land aircraft can be modified to become float planes, and in general, floatplanes are small aircraft. Floatplanes are limited by their inability to handle wave heights typically greater than 12 inches and these floats add to the empty weight of the airplane and to the drag coefficient, resulting in reduced payload capacity, slower rate of climb, and slower cruise speed. Most flying boats have small floats mounted on their wings to keep them stable, not all small seaplanes have been floatplanes, but most large seaplanes have been flying boats, with their great weight supported by their hulls. The term seaplane is used by some instead of floatplane and this is the standard British usage. This article treats both flying boats and floatplanes as types of seaplane, in the US fashion, an amphibious aircraft can take off and land both on conventional runways and water. A true seaplane can only take off and land on water, there are amphibious flying boats and amphibious floatplanes, as well as some hybrid designs, e. g. floatplanes with retractable floats. Modern production seaplanes are typically light aircraft, amphibious, and of a floatplane design, on 6 June 1905, Gabriel Voisin took off and landed on the River Seine with a towed kite glider on floats. The first of his flights was 150 yards. He later built a powered floatplane in partnership with Louis Blériot, other pioneers also attempted to attach floats to aircraft in Britain, Australia, France and the United States. On 28 March 1910, Frenchman Henri Fabre flew the first successful powered seaplane, the Gnome Omega-powered hydravion, fabres first successful take off and landing by a powered seaplane inspired other aviators, and he designed floats for several other flyers. The first hydro-aeroplane competition was held in Monaco in March 1912, featuring aircraft using floats from Fabre, Curtiss, Tellier and this led to the first scheduled seaplane passenger services, at Aix-les-Bains, using a five-seat Sanchez-Besa from 1 August 1912. The French Navy ordered its first floatplane in 1912, in 1911−12, François Denhaut constructed the first seaplane with a fuselage forming a hull, using various designs to give hydrodynamic lift at take-off. Its first successful flight was on 13 April 1912, throughout 1910 and 1911, American pioneering aviator Glenn Curtiss developed his floatplane into the successful Curtiss Model D land-plane, which used a larger central float and sponsons. Combining floats with wheels, he made the first amphibian flights in February 1911 and was awarded the first Collier Trophy for US flight achievement, from 1912, his experiments with a hulled seaplane resulted in the 1913 Model E and Model F, which he called flying-boats
10.
Aermacchi
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Aermacchi was an Italian aircraft manufacturer. With a factory located on the shores of Lake Varese, the firm manufactured a series of Nieuport designs. After World War II, the company producing motorcycles as a way to fill the post-war need for cheap. The company later specialised in civil and military training aircraft. In July 2003, Aermacchi was integrated into the Finmeccanica Group as Alenia Aermacchi, since the beginning, the design and production of military trainers have been Alenia Aermacchis core business. Alenia Aermacchi develops and manufactures the fuselage forward and rear sections, a Mid-Life Updating program is required by the Italian Air Force to upgrade the aircraft capabilities. Panavia Tornado program, Alenia Aermacchi designs and produces wing pylons and wing tips, roots, trailing edges and flaps, which represents a 5% share in the overall program. C-27J program, After participating in the G-222 transport aircraft program, since the mid-1990s, Alenia Aermacchi has participated in programs for the supply of engine nacelles for civil aircraft. It produces cold parts for engine nacelles, inlets, fan cowls and EBU, in 1960, US business Harley-Davidson motorcycles purchased 50% of Aermacchis motorcycle division. The remaining motorcycle holdings were sold in 1974 to AMF-Harley-Davidson, with continuing to be made at Varese. The business was sold to Cagiva in 1978, list of Italian companies Harley-Davidson Baja 100 off-road motorcycle Leonardo-Finmeccanica website
11.
Dornier Flugzeugwerke
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Dornier Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer founded in Friedrichshafen in 1914 by Claude Dornier. Over the course of its lifespan, the company produced many designs for both the civil and military markets. Originally Dornier Metallbau, Dornier Flugzeugwerke took over Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen production facilities when it failed in 1923, Dornier built its aircraft outside Germany during much of this period, in compliance with the restrictions placed on German aircraft manufacturers by the Treaty of Versailles. Foreign factories licence-building Dornier products included CMASA and Piaggio in Italy, CASA in Spain, Kawasaki in Japan, once the Nazi government came to power and abandoned the treatys restrictions, Dornier resumed production in Germany. Dorniers most significant military aircraft design before and during World War II was the Do 17 and it was developed and first flown in 1934 as a commercial aircraft in competition for a Lufthansa contract. Due to its narrow fuselage it was not commercially attractive and was passed over by Lufthansa, Dornier then further developed it as a military aircraft with a prototype bomber first flying in 1935. In 1937, it was employed in pro-Fascist terror bombings by the German Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War, production continued within Germany and this versatile two-engined aircraft was developed by the Luftwaffe into multiple combat variations. The medium bomber variant saw much service during the part of World War II including extensive use in the Battle of Britain. It was later developed into an effective nightfighter to defend Germany from the RAF bomber offensive, Dornier developed the successful Do 217 based on the Do 17, ostensibly looking like its younger sibling, this larger and much heavier bomber was in fact a completely new design. Dornier also developed the fastest piston-engined fighter of the war, the two-engined Do 335, introduced too late to enter combat service. Dorniers history of flying boats lead to new models that saw service in several armed forces around the world as well as Germany, including the Do 22, Do 18. Post-war, Dornier quickly re-established itself with highly successful small STOL transports such as the Do 27, additionally, in 1974 it developed the Alpha Jet as part of a joint venture with French aircraft manufacturers Dassault-Breguet. The plane was received and established itself as the new standard NATO trainer during the 1970s and 80s. In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited bought a licence for the Dornier Do 228. By 2013 a total of 117 Dornier DO-228 aircraft had been produced by HAL with plans to build 20 more during 2013-14, in 1985, Dornier became a member of the Daimler-Benz group integrating its aeronautic assets with the parent company. As part of transaction, Lindauer Dornier GmbH was spun off, creating a separate, family-owned firm, concentrating on textile machinery design. The rest of the company was split into several subsidiaries for defence, satellites, medtech, in 1996, the majority of Dornier Aircraft was acquired by Fairchild Aircraft, forming Fairchild Dornier. This company became insolvent in early 2002, production of its 328 Jet was acquired by US company Avcraft
12.
Piaggio P.108
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The Piaggio P.108 Bombardiere was an Italian four-engine heavy bomber that saw service with the Regia Aeronautica during World War II. The prototype first flew in 1939 and it entered service in 1941 and it was one of a handful of Italian combat aircraft that could match the best manufactured by the Allies. Four versions of the P.108 were designed, but only one, only one P. 108A and 24 P. 108Bs were built. The combined total number of all versions was 35, most of the P. 108Cs were subsequently modified for use as military transport aircraft and could accommodate up to sixty passengers. Nine P.108 Ts were used by Luftwaffe transport units until the end of the war, the P.108 was unique in the history of Italian aviation, as it was the only four-engine strategic bomber used by the Regia Aeronautica during World War II. It was a development of the underpowered and wooden-structured P. 50-II which was unable to take-off at its designed maximum weight. The designer of the aircraft was Giovanni Casiraghi, an engineer who had previously worked in the US from 1927 to 1936. On the basis of his experience he designed a new aeroplane. The P.108 was a low wing bomber with a retractable under-carriage. The first prototype P. 108B flew on 24 November 1939 and it performed extremely well in a series of tests and required refining in only a few minor areas, but it took some time for pilots to get used to the new aircraft. The P.108 was delivered to a unit, the 274a Squadriglia. But there were accidents, one of them involving the son of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. On 7 August 1941, Bruno Mussolini, commander of the 274a Squadriglia, was piloting one of the prototypes of the secret bomber and he flew too low and crashed into a house. The cockpit section separated from the rest of the aircraft and although the aircraft did not catch fire, commander Bruno Mussolini died from his injuries. By the end of 1941, the P. 108B had demonstrated just 391 flying hours, nonetheless, the new bomber showed much promise. The average Italian bomber cost around 2.1 million lire and this would seem to favor the smaller bomber. But in a comparison to deliver a given weight of bombs at the same distance, the P. 108B had the advantage. With a single squadron of nine P. 108s capable of flying 1,100 km with 3,500 kg, the P. 108Bs engines were designed to be more powerful than those propelling the B-17, and most of its defensive gun turrets were remote-controlled
€1,295 million (2015)[1]
