Flying BARREL to Carry 100 Passengers (Mar, 1933)

Flying BARREL to Carry 100 Passengers

Development of a huge “flying barrel” transport plane capable of carrying a hundred passengers inside its thick tubular hull is foreshadowed by recent successful test flights of the hollow fuselage plane shown in the photograph directly above, designed by Engineer Stipa of the Italian Caproni works. The picture shows: double cockpits placed on top of the cylindrical body, but in the refined version of the plane for large scale passenger traffic, the piloting compartment is faired into wing and propeller is driven through gears much like the dirigible Akron.