Piaggio P.119

Piaggio P.119

The Piaggio P.119 was an Italian experimental fighter of World War II. It had a relatively novel layout, with a "buried" radial engine mounted mid-fuselage. Only a single prototype was built before the Armistice between Italy and the allied armed forces, which ended the project.

he P.119 was powered by a 1,119 kW (1,500 hp) Piaggio P.XV RC 45 radial engine located behind the cockpit. Air intakes for cooling were fitted under the nose. The propeller was a 3.3 m (10 ft 10in) diameter Piaggio P.1002 driven by a shaft running under the cockpit. A further development was planned with a Piaggio P.XV RC 50, giving 1,230 kW (1,650 hp) at takeoff and 1,099 kW (1,475 hp) at 5,000 m (16,400 ft) altitude, with a planned maximum speed of 630 km/h (390 mph) maximum speed but never implemented.

The armament was concentrated in the nose; a 20 mm Breda cannon with 110 rounds and four 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Breda heavy machine guns with 2,000 rounds. The Breda gun was more powerful than the German 20 mm MG 151, but had a lower rate of fire. There was also provision to install another four 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Breda machine guns in the wings with 1,200 rounds in total. An anti-tank version was proposed with a Breda 37 mm (1.46 in) gun, but not built. (Source: Wikipedia)