The Piaggio P.8 was an Italian

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

designed and built by

Piaggio Piaggio Group () is an Italian motor vehicle manufacturer, which produces a range of two-wheeled motor vehicles and compact commercial vehicles under five brands: Piaggio, Vespa, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi and Derbi. Its corporate headquarters are ...

for the ''

Regia Marina The , ) (RM) or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy () from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the changed its name to '' Marina Militare'' ("Military Navy"). Origin ...

'' (Italian Royal Navy).

Design and development

Piaggio designed the P.8 to meet a ''Regia Marina'' requirement for a small reconnaissance

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

that could operate from the large

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

''Ettore Fieramosca''. The aircraft had to be designed so that it could be stowed disassembled in a watertight, cylindrical

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

aboard the submarine. In order to minimize danger to the submarine and the aircraft during flight operations—which required ''Ettore Fieramosca'' to loiter on the surface while the aircraft was being assembled or disassembled—the aircraft was designed to be assembled quickly for flight operations and disassembled quickly after recovery for stowage in its hangar. The P.8, which first flew in 1928, was a single-seat

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 ...

with twin floats mounted beneath its

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

and a

parasol wing 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 confi ...

. Its 56-

kilowatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

(75-

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

) Blackburn Cirrus II engine drove a two-bladed propeller and gave it a top speed of 135 kilometers per hour (84 miles per hour).

Operational history

The P.8 was among various small seaplanes considered for use aboard ''Ettore Fieramosca'', which was commissioned in 1930. None of the aircraft were deployed aboard the submarine, and ''Ettore Fieramosca''s hangar was removed in 1931.

Operators

; *''

Specifications

Notes

References

External links

AR - Aircraft Manuals Blueprints Video Publications: Piaggio P.8
{{Portal bar, Italy, Companies, Aviation P.008 1920s Italian military reconnaissance aircraft Floatplanes Submarine-borne aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Parasol-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1928