Piaggio P.6

The Piaggio P.6 was an Italian catapult-launched reconnaissance floatplane designed and built by Piaggio for the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy).

Development
To meet a Regia Marina requirement for a two-seat catapult-launched seaplane, Piaggio produced two designs. The first, designated the P.6bis, was a small biplane flying boat powered by a 190 kW (260 hp) Isotta Fraschini V.6 engine driving a pusher propeller. The second design designated, the P.6, was a floatplane with one large central float and two stabilising floats at the wingtips and a nose-mounted A.20 engine.

Both aircraft had the same biplane wing structure with rigid strut bracing and both were armed with a single machine gun (the flying-boat's in the bow and the floatplane's in the rear cockpit). In 1928, the P.6ter was produced based on the P.6 floatplane with the engine boosted to 306 kW (410 hp). A production run of 15 P-6ter aircraft was produced for the Italian Navy where it had an unremarkable career, being used on battleships and cruisers.

Variants

 * P.6bis
 * Prototype flying boat.


 * P.6
 * Prototype floatplane.


 * P.6ter
 * Production floatplane, 15 built.

Operators

 * Kingdom of Italy
 * Regia Marina