Breda A.8

Breda A.8
Role	Night bomber
National origin	Italy
Manufacturer	Società Italiana Ernesto Breda
First flight	1927

The Breda A.8 was a prototype twin-engined biplane, designed by Società Italiana Ernesto Breda as a night bomber in 1927. The A.8 was designed as an improvement to the Breda A.3. The plane was modified to fix problems experienced in the old A.3. However, when the plane was tested using two 440 hp Lorraine-Dietrich 12db engines, the results were quite modest. In response, the designers changed to 500 hp Isotta Fraschini Asso 500 engines. This did not yield much improvement, and the design was abandoned.

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: four
• Capacity: 1800kg
• Length: 16.7 m (54 ft 9 in)
• Wingspan: 23 m (75 ft 6 in)
• Wing area: 143 m² (1,540 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 3,800 kg (8,378 lb)
• Gross weight: 5,600 kg (12,346 lb)
• Powerplant: 2 × Lorraine-Dietrich 12db , 300 kW (400 hp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 175 km/h (109 mph; 94 kn)
• Endurance: 6h
• Service ceiling: 3,500 m (11,483 ft)
• Wing loading: 39 kg/m² (8.0 lb/sq ft)

Armament

• Bombs: 800kg