Secondo Campini (August 28, 1904 – February 7, 1980) was an Italian engineer and one of the pioneers of the

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...

. Campini was born at

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

. In 1931 he wrote a proposal for the Italian Air Ministry on the value of jet propulsion, and in 1932 demonstrated a jet-powered boat in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. With support of the Air Ministry, he began work with Italian aircraft manufacturer

Caproni Caproni, also known as ''Società de Agostini e Caproni'' and ''Società Caproni e Comitti'', was an Italian aircraft manufacturer. Its main base of operations was at Taliedo, near Linate Airport, on the outskirts of Milan. Founded by Giova ...

to develop a jet aircraft, the Caproni Campini C.C.2, which first flew in 1940. The "

motorjet A motorjet is a rudimentary type of jet engine which is sometimes referred to as ''thermojet'', a term now commonly used to describe a particular and completely unrelated pulsejet design. Design At the heart the motorjet is an ordinary pist ...

" that Campini developed to propel the C.C.2 is substantially different from the jet engines of today. Campini's engine used a conventional piston engine to compress air, which was then mixed with fuel and ignited. Modern jets are based on the

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, ...

principle, but Campini's engine was nevertheless a true jet, since it was the reactive force of the burning exhaust gases that pushed the aircraft along. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Campini emigrated to the US at the request of

Preston Tucker Preston Thomas Tucker (21 September 1903 – 26 December 1956) was an American automobile entrepreneur. He is most remembered for his Tucker 48 sedan, initially nicknamed the "Tucker Torpedo", an automobile which introduced many features ...

(noted for the Tucker 48 automobile), who wanted Campini to help him with his new corporation. Tucker asked Campini to both help him develop a turbine powered car, and also used his fame to attempt to secure a US Air Force development contract for the Tucker Corporation. After the Tucker Corporation folded in 1948, he worked on a number of military projects, including the YB-49 flying-wing

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

. Campini died in Milan in 1980.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campini, Secondo 1904 births 1980 deaths Caproni people Italian aerospace engineers 20th-century Italian inventors Jet engine pioneers Engineers from Bologna