Founded by Rinaldo Piaggio in Genoa 1884, the company built railway rolling stock and fitted out ocean liners. It absorbed the Pegna Bonmartini Costruzioni Navali-Aeronautiche in 1923 retaining their celebrated designer ing. Giovanni Pegna as its designer-in-chief. He oversaw many innovative aircraft designs for Piaggio before joining Reggiane in 1936. Giovanni Casiraghi, who had previously worked at the WACO Aircraft Company in USA, took charge of the design office thereafter and continued the development of the P.50, which was the springboard of the advanced P.108 bomber. It was the only Piaggio aircraft to see active duty during WWII. Post war saw Piaggio continue aircraft production right up until the P.180 Avanti.

Piaggio P.16. Ing. Pegna introduced a lot of firsts in this 1932 tri-motor prototype. It had an unusual elliptical, inverted gull-wing configuration which gave it quite a unique appearance. Regia Aeronautica placed an order but it was cancelled in favour of the P.23. There are no kits known of this aircraft.

Piaggio P.23M. This was an evolutionary development of the P.16, sharing the same wing configuration but powered by Asso inline engines fitted in tandem on each wing. The fuselage had a watertight hulll-like shape intended for emergency landing on water hence the M (Marino) suffix. Only two were built. There was a 1/72 vacform kit of this interesting aircraft, probably from KPL, but has been OOP for sometime.

Piaggio P.23R. This very sleek and very large trimotor prototype, which had nothing in common with the P.23M, was possibly the most streamlined aircraft of the time. Originally powered with Asso inline engines, it was subsequently fitted with Piaggio radials and went on to break two distance records with a 11,000lb payload towards the end of 1938. The Allies mis-identified it as a long range bomber but the Italians did nothing to quash these rumours thinking it would be good propaganda. Would certainly make an interesting modelling subject.

Piaggio P.32. Using knowledge gained from his previous prototypes, ing. Pegna designed this advanced bomber with a reduced wing area featuring leading edge slats and double trailing edge flaps. With its under-powered Asso inline engines, which could not compensate for the high wing-loading, this rather porcine looking aircraft proved to be a bit of a handful. The P.32 II had more powerful Piaggio radial engines which only helped a little bit. About a dozen or so of each variant were built and were taken out of service by 1938. In 1937 Caproni built a more streamlined version of the P.32, designated Ca.405 Procelleria, which was intended for the Istres-Damascus-Paris Air Race of 1937. Around the same time ing. Pegna, who had moved across to Reggiane by then, worked on a similar P.32bis design but this programme was halted after a fatal crash.

The KPL 1/72 vacuform kit is discontinued but LF Models have 2 rather pricey 1/72 resin kits covering both engine types. Although shape wise they are fairly accurate they do suffer from a lack of good quality details although there is little panel line detail to worry about thanks to being almost entierly wooden construction. They can, with good references to had, make an interesting addition to any RA bomber collection.

Piaggio P.50. Initiated by ing. Pegna before leaving the company, ing. Casiraghi took over the development of the P.50 I prototype. It had the same tandem Asso engine layout as used on thire P.23M prototype, but Casiraghi proposed a third prototype, the P.50 II, which had a more conventional arrangement of 4 Piaggio radials on the leading edge of the wing. This design would lead ultimately to the P.108. No kits known.

Piaggio P.108. Having established himself with the P.50 II prototype, ing. Casiraghis P.108 bomber design was to be the only Regia Aeronautica 4-engined WWII bomber to enter service. Although an expensive aircraft to produce it had a robust airframe and was very efficient. All 24 P.108B bombers served in 274 Squadriglia, including the serie II, which had the nose turret removed to save weight and was used as a night bomber. An additional 6 P.108Cs were built for commercial use and nine P.108Ts for troop transport. Post Armistice, all remaining P.108C & P.108T aircraft entered Luftwaffe service who exploited its spacious interior.

Thankfully this impressive aircraft has been well served in kit form thanks to both Flying Machines & Special Hobby covering the two B variants and the sole P.108A 'artigliere' prototype, which had a large bore cannon installed in a restyled nose. They are all highly recommended especially Special Hobbys recently re-released P.108B which had revised detail parts. Cunarmodel did a conversion set to build the P.108T transport variant. Airmodel also released a 1/72 P-108B vacuform kit but it is a tough build.

Piaggio P.111. Originally built as a high speed, high altitude bomber prototype. It's role was changed to that of a short lived high-altitude research aircraft working in parallel with the P.108 that was in development at the time. Powered by supercharged Piaggio P.XII radials built specifically for this aircraft, it first flew in 1941 and did over 100 test flights before being scrapped in 1943. No kits are known but it would make an interesting subject.

Piaggio P.119. For its time, this sole all-metal P.119 fighter prototype was a very advanced with a Piaggio P.XV radial engine installed behind the cockpit for improved C of G. Although quite heavy it had a large wing area and when first flown in 1942 it proved to be a well-balanced aircraft. With all its firepower concentrated in its nose, it did cause excessive vibration during testing. The Armistice bought a halt to any further development.

Italian Wings issued a 1/72 resin kit of this aircraft but it was a poor kit with many shape issues to resolve.

P.16

P.50 II

P.50 I

P.119

P.111

P.32 I

P.32bis

P.32bis Asso

P.23M

P.32 II

Ca.405 Procelleria

P.23R Asso

P.23R

Model images are links to a build article