CANT 25


The CANT 25 was an Italian shipboard single-seat biplane flying boat fighter that entered service with the Regia Aeronautica in 1931.

Design and development

The CANT 25 was developed from the earlier CANT 18 flying boat to meet a requirement for a flying boat fighter for the Regia Aeronautica. The aircraft was of wooden construction and was armed with two fixed, forward-firing 7.7-millimeter Vickers machine guns. It was built in two versions, the CANT 25M with removable wings and the CANT 25AR which was strengthened for catapult launching and had folding wings.
The CANT 25M appeared first, in 1931. It had Warren truss-type interplane bracing and a 306-kilowatt Fiat A.20 12-cylinder water-cooled engine mounted to drive a two-bladed pusher propeller, and was used for catapult trials aboard warships of the Regia Marina. It was replaced by the CANT 25AR—AR stood for Ali Ripiegabili, Italian for "Folding Wings"—which instead had vertical interplane bracing struts to allow the outer panels of the wings to fold to the rear. It also had strengthened tailplane bracing and a more powerful engine, a 328-kilowatt version of the Fiat A.20.

Variants

;CANT 25M
;CANT 25AR

Operators