Piaggio P.119 1/48th scale model by Sikka

Last crawled date: 3 years, 3 months ago

The Piaggio P.119 was an Italian experimental fighter of World War II. It had a relatively novel layout, with a "buried" radial engine mounted mid-fuselage. Only a single prototype was built before the Armistice between Italy and the allied armed forces, which ended the project.
The P.119 was designed (in 1939), to minimise drag by fitting the engine in mid-fuselage in a similar layout to the P-39 Airacobra. It was hoped to improve maneuverability by positioning the engine near the aircraft's centre of gravity, which would also allow a heavy nose-mounted armament.
The P.119 was a cantilever monoplane, constructed completely of metal, with a conventional wide undercarriage. It had a forward-mounted cockpit, with the weapons mounted just behind the three-bladed propeller. It had advanced construction for the time, with many removable panels for internal inspection. The number of components were reduced to a minimum, and also standardized, to make construction as easy as possible. No other Italian aircraft was so advanced in these details.
The P.119 was powered by a 1,119 kW (1,500 hp) Piaggio P.XV RC 45 radial engine located behind the cockpit. Air intakes for cooling were fitted under the nose. The propeller was a 3.3 m (10 ft 10in) diameter Piaggio P.1002 driven by a shaft running under the cockpit. A further development was planned with a Piaggio P.XV RC 50, giving 1,230 kW (1,650 hp) at takeoff and 1,099 kW (1,475 hp) at 5,000 m (16,400 ft) altitude, with a planned maximum speed of 630 km/h (390 mph) maximum speed but never implemented.
The aircraft had a 330 l (90 US gal) fuel tank in each wing, and a 340 l (90 US gal) tank in the fuselage, giving a total of 1,000 l (260 US gal), a 2½ times greater capacity than that of a Bf 109 or a MC.205.
Overall weight of the aircraft was quite high, but the wing was wide, with a 13 m (43 ft) wingspan. The surface area was almost 28 m2 (300 ft2), giving a wing loading of around 150 kg/m2. The wing was built on a single spar which also supported the engine, and a semi-spar/semi-monocoque skin.
The armament was concentrated in the nose; a 20 mm Breda cannon with 110 rounds and four 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Breda heavy machine guns with 2,000 rounds. The Breda gun was more powerful than the German 20 mm MG 151, but had a lower rate of fire. There was also provision to install another four 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Breda machine guns in the wings with 1,200 rounds in total. An anti-tank version was proposed with a Breda 37 mm (1.46 in) gun, but not built.