The Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano: The Nine-Winged Dream That Never Flew
Few aircraft in history have been as audacious as the Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano—a nine-winged, triple-fuselage flying boat designed to carry 100 passengers across the Atlantic Ocean. Created in 1921 by Italian aviation pioneer Giovanni Battista Caproni, the Noviplano was a bold attempt to push aviation into the realm of large-scale commercial air travel.
However, despite its ambitious vision, the Ca.60 never made it past its second test flight, crashing spectacularly into Italy’s Lake Maggiore. With only one prototype built and destroyed, it remains one of the most daring yet impractical experiments in aviation history.
Why Was the Caproni Ca.60 Built?
In the early 1920s, aviation was still in its infancy, and most passenger flights were limited to small aircraft with short ranges. Giovanni Battista Caproni, an Italian aircraft designer and entrepreneur, believed that the future of commercial aviation lay in large transatlantic flying boats.
✔ Visionary Transatlantic Air Travel – Caproni’s goal was to create a massive passenger aircraft capable of transporting 100 people across the Atlantic—a radical idea at a time when most airplanes carried only a handful of passengers.
✔ Inspired by WWI Bombers – The design drew from Caproni’s experience with large, multi-engine bombers used during World War I.
✔ Flying Boats Were Seen as the Future – During this era, runways were scarce, making water-based takeoffs and landings the most practical solution for long-distance travel.
The Caproni Ca.60 was a hybrid between a flying boat and a multi-winged biplane, with a design unlike anything seen before—or since.
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The Intended Purpose: A Giant Leap for Passenger Aviation
The Ca.60 Noviplano was meant to be the world’s first large-capacity airliner, designed to:
✔ Carry 100 passengers across the Atlantic Ocean in a single trip.
✔ Utilize its massive triple-wing, triple-fuselage design for lift and stability.
✔ Take off and land on water, eliminating the need for large runways.
If successful, the Noviplano would have been decades ahead of its time, pioneering mass commercial air travel before it even existed. However, its extreme design pushed the limits of aerodynamics—and reality.
Why Did the Caproni Ca.60 Fail?
The Ca.60’s downfall was rooted in its own radical engineering. While ambitious, the aircraft suffered from fundamental design flaws that made it unstable and nearly impossible to control.
✔ Excessive Weight and Drag – The nine-wing configuration created immense drag, making the aircraft sluggish and difficult to maneuver.
✔ Poor Structural Integrity – The massive size and complex frame meant high stress on the wings and fuselage, increasing the risk of failure.
✔ Underpowered Engines – The aircraft was powered by eight Liberty V12 engines, but they struggled to provide enough thrust to lift the enormous airframe.
✔ Severe Instability – The stacked wing design created turbulence between the wings, making the aircraft unpredictable in flight.
During its second test flight on March 4, 1921, over Lake Maggiore, the Ca.60 briefly lifted off, reached an altitude of 60 feet (18 meters), but almost immediately became unstable and crashed nose-first into the lake. While the pilot survived, the aircraft was severely damaged.
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Why Wasn't It Mass Produced?
✔ The Only Prototype Was Destroyed – After the crash, funding and interest in the project disappeared.
✔ The Aircraft Was Far Too Impractical – The design was simply too radical and aerodynamically flawed to be realistically scaled up.
✔ Aviation Was Moving in a Different Direction – The 1920s saw the rise of streamlined monoplanes, which proved to be far more efficient for commercial aviation
With no financial backing and a wrecked prototype, Caproni abandoned the project, shifting focus to more conventional aircraft.
What Are the Takeaways?
✔ Innovation Must Be Balanced with Practicality – The Caproni Ca.60 was too ambitious for its time, proving that even the boldest ideas need to be grounded in aerodynamic reality.
✔ Size and Complexity Can Be Drawbacks – The aircraft’s sheer size and triple-fuselage design made it impractical, showing that bigger isn’t always better in aviation.
✔ Failures Still Contribute to Progress – While the Ca.60 was a disaster, it demonstrated the potential (and limits) of large-scale passenger aviation, paving the way for future flying boats and commercial airliners.
✔ The Dream of Transatlantic Airliners Became Reality—Decades Later – While the Ca.60 failed, Caproni’s vision was ultimately fulfilled with aircraft like the Boeing 314 Clipper (1939) and the Boeing 747 (1969)—massive airliners that truly made long-haul travel a reality.
Final Thoughts: A Fascinating Failure
The Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano remains one of the most bizarre and ambitious aircraft ever built. While it never achieved its goal, it stands as a bold experiment in aviation history, reminding us that progress is built on both successes and failures.
Though its nine wings never truly soared, the Ca.60’s dream of transatlantic commercial flight eventually came true—just not in the way Caproni imagined.
See More:
Simple Flying - The Caproni Ca.60: Italy's Failed Floating Triplane
Plane Historia – The Caproni Ca.60 was a Nine Wing Cruise Liner