Caproni Ca.113


The Caproni Ca.113 was an advanced training biplane produced in Italy and Bulgaria in the early 1930s. Designed as a follow-on to the Ca.100, it was a more powerful and robust aircraft capable of aerobatics. It was a conventional design with two cockpits in tandem, single-bay staggered wings of equal span, and mainwheels covered by large spats.

Design and development

The Ca.113's capabilities were demonstrated by Mario De Bernardi's win of the aerobatic trophy at the 1931 Cleveland Air Races with engine Walter Castor and its use in setting a number of aerial records, most importantly a world altitude record of 14,433 m set by Renato Donati on 11 April 1934. Other records included a women's world altitude record of 12,010 m set by Contessa Carina Negrone in 1935 and world endurance records for inverted flight. These latter records were set by Tito Falconi at the US 1933 National Air Races, who flew inverted from Los Angeles to San Diego and after the race meet, made an inverted flight from St. Louis to Chicago.
The Ca.113 was also produced in quantity by the subsidiary that Caproni established in Kazanlak, Bulgaria. Here, it was known as the Chuchuliga and was produced in a number of versions designated KB-2, KB-3, KB-4 and KB-5 in 1938-1939, some of which were armed. 107 of these aircraft were produced, most going to the Bulgarian Royal Air Force, where they saw service until the country was overrun by the Soviet Union in 1944.

Operators