Breda Ba.32

Passenger Airliner Prototype

Kingdom of Italy | 1931

"The Breda Ba.32 airliner failed to generate much interest during the Golden Age of flight - just one or two prototypes were realized before the end."

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 01/03/2022 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

In the Golden Age of flight preceding the fighting of World War 2 (1939-1945), commercial aviation literally "took off", offering millions of civilian and business market travels the ability to reach far-off places of the world. In the Kingdom of Italy, Breda attempted to provide the market with a new passenger hauler in the form of their "Ba.32". This modest airliner utilized a straight-wing planform, fixed landing gear, and triple-engine arrangement for the role. Despite the attempt, only two prototypes were ever produced with a first-flight was had sometime in 1931 - the design eventually falling away to history.

The aircraft was reminiscent of other Italian types of the period, with its three-engine layout offering the needed power, performance, and range. One engine was buried in the nose assembly while the other two were at leading edge nacelles at the wing mainplanes. The low-wing mainplanes were broad, long-spanning members fitted well-ahead of midships for balance and were given rounded tips. Each also mounted a fixed, spatted main landing gear leg for ground-running. The pilots were seated in side-by-side arrangement just aft of the nose engine and the passenger cabin (up to ten passengers could be carried) made up nearly the whole of the available space middle-aft. The fuselage tapered to the empennage to which a small-area rudder was fitted (with cut-off top). The horizontal tailplanes were low-mounted on this plane and of straight design with rounded tips (as in the mainplanes). A tailwheel was fitted well-aft for supporting the empennage during ground-running.

Structurally, the aircraft was given a running length of 54.11 feet, a wingspan of 87.5 feet, and a height of 13.7 feet. Empty weight was 8,360lb and gross weight reached up to 14,200lb.

The original model carried 3 x Pratt & Whitney "Wasp Junior" 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines offering 320 horsepower each. These systems each drove two-bladed propeller blades in puller fashion, giving the aircraft a maximum speed of 147 miles-per-hour, a cruising speed of 131 mph, a range out to 840 miles, a service ceiling of 17,400 feet, and a rate-of-climb of 310 feet-per-minute.

In testing, the overall design proved rather sound. However, there also proved little interest in the all-new attempt and no serial orders from customers followed thereafter, leading just the prototype show for the investment. At least two Ba.32 aircraft are thought to have been developed - the original and a slightly modified second follow-up. It is unknown whether the latter aircraft was the same original airframe simply refit with local FIAT engines (as opposed to the American Pratt & Whitney models) or an altogether new attempt.

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Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Breda Ba.32 Passenger Airliner Prototype.

3 x Pratt & Whitney "Wasp Junior" 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines developing 320 horsepower each driving two-bladed propeller units in puller arrangement.
Propulsion

147 mph
237 kph | 128 kts
Max Speed

131 mph
211 kph | 114 kts
Cruise Speed

17,388 ft
5,300 m | 3 miles
Service Ceiling

839 miles
1,350 km | 729 nm
Operational Range

310 ft/min
94 m/min
Rate-of-Climb

City-to-City Ranges
Operational range when compared to distances between major cities (in KM).

NYC

LON

PAR

BER

MOS

TOK

SYD

LAX

NYC

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Breda Ba.32 Passenger Airliner Prototype.

2
(MANNED)
Crew

55.0 ft
16.75 m
O/A Length

87.6 ft
(26.70 m)
O/A Width

13.6 ft
(4.15 m)
O/A Height

8,378 lb
(3,800 kg)
Empty Weight

14,198 lb
(6,440 kg)
MTOW

Design Balance
The three qualities reflected below are altitude, speed, and range. The more full the box, the more balanced the design.

RANGE

ALT

SPEED

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Breda Ba.32 family line.

Ba.32 - Base Series Designation.

Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Breda Ba.32. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 1 Units
Contractor(s): Breda - Kingdom of Italy

[ Kingdom of Italy ]

1 / 1

Image from the Public Domain.

Going Further...
The Breda Ba.32 Passenger Airliner Prototype appears in the following collections:

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