The Piaggio P.148 is a 1950s

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

two-seat primary or aerobatic

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

designed and built by

Piaggio Aero Piaggio Aerospace, formerly known as Piaggio Aero Industries, is a multinational aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Villanova d'Albenga, Italy. The company designs, develops, manufactures and maintains aircraft, aero-engines, aer ...

Design and development

The P.148 was an all-metal low-wing

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

monoplane with fixed

tailwheel landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...

. It offered room for two occupants in side-by-side seating as well as an optional third seat. The

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

first flew on the 12 February 1951 and after testing by the Italian Air Force was ordered into production for the air force primary training schools. A four-seat variant was developed as the P.149.

Operational history

Although successfully introduced into the

Italian Air Force The Italian Air Force (; AM, ) is the air force of the Italy, Italian Republic. The Italian Air Force was founded as an independent service arm on 28 March 1923 by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, King Victor Emmanuel III as the ("Royal Air Force ...

service, the P.148 was withdrawn from use with the introduction of an all-jet training programme. In 1970, the aircraft was re-introduced into the Italian Air Force Service, when the basic piston-engine aircraft regained a role in the selection of pilots. Some aircraft were sold by the Air Force to the

Somali Air Corps The Somali Air Force (SAF; , Osmanya script, Osmanya: 𐒋𐒕𐒆𐒖𐒑𐒖𐒆𐒖 𐒋𐒘𐒇𐒏𐒖 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒜𐒆, CCS; , ''Al-Qūwāt al-Gawwīyä as-Ṣūmālīyä'') is the air force of Somalia. Called the Somal ...

as trainers.

Operators

; *

operated 70 aircraft from 1951 until 1979

Former Operators

; *

- Retired

Specifications (P.148)

References