Piaggio P.16

The Piaggio P.16 was an Italian heavy bomber designed and built by Piaggio for the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force). 
==Design and development==
The P.16 was a three-engine shoulder-wing monoplane of mostly metal construction, with inverted gull wings. Its wing was thick and semi-elliptical, and its tail was mounted high on the fuselage. It had retractable main landing gear and a spatted, non-retractable tailwheel. In addition to bombs, its armament consisted of four 7.62-millimeter (0.3-inch) machine guns, of which two were mounted in the leading edge of the wing, one in a retractable dorsal turret, and one in the rear of the fuselage beneath the tail. The bombardier (bomb-aimer) manned a compartment set behind the nose engine on the underside of the fuselage.
==Operational history==
The P.16 first flew in November 1934, and an order for 12 aircraft was placed and then cancelled,[1] with preference given to the Piaggio P.32, which was produced from 1936 to 1939.
Category:Between the warsCategory:Heavy bomberCategory:Piston enginedCategory:Multi enginedCategory:ItalianCategory:MonoplaneCategory:Land BasedCategory:Multiple crew membersCategory:Not selected for productionCategory:Piaggio Aero