Ansaldo A.300

Based on Ansaldo's highly successful World War I Balilla and S.V.A scouts, the A.300 was a conventional single-engined two-bay open cockpit biplane of mixed metal and wood-and-fabric construction, powered usually by a water-cooled Fiat A.12bis V12 engine. Most variants had two fixed Vickers guns and one mobile gun mounted in the rear cockpit. It first flew in 1919.

Early examples were two seaters, but the A.300/3 was a three-seater intended for reconnaissance use, of which around 90 were delivered. The most significant variant was the A.300/4, again mostly three-seaters, which started full production in 1923, just as Ansaldo was absorbed into FIAT. This became the standard multi-role aircraft in the newly formed Regia Aeronautica and served in Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corfu, Libya and Eritrea.

The A.300 was one of the most numerous aircraft of its time, with the production run of the A.300/4 alone, at 700 units, exceeding the total production of any other type of the 1920s except the Breguet XIX and Potez 25. Despite this, and possibly because it was Italian rather than French or British, it remains one of the least documented contemporary types, certainly the most obscure produced in anything like these numbers.

;A.300/2:initial production version

;A.300/3:three-seat version, also exported to Spain, Belgium, and Poland

;A.300/4:definitive production version with improved cooling

;A.300/5:prototype with Lorraine engine

;A.300/6:improved A.300/4, also in service

;A.300C: Four passenger airliner. Several built 1921-'26 and operated by the Belgian airline SNETA, French airlines SABENA and 1925 operated by the Romanian airlines SNNA, as regular flights with 5 aircraft.Stroud 1964, pp. 392–393.[https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1921/1921%20-%200437.html "The Ansaldo A-300 C Commercial Biplane"] Flight, June 30, 1921

;A.300T: Eight passenger airliner. At least one built 1921.Stroud 1964, p. 393.[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1921/1921%20-%200774.html "1921 Paris Air Salon: Ansaldo Aéronautique A.330 T"] Flight, November 17, 1921

;A.400:prototype

;{{BEL}}

• Belgian Air Force

;{{flag|Kingdom of Italy}}

• Corpo Aeronautico Militare

;{{POL}}

• Polish Air Force

;{{USSR}}

• Soviet Air Force

;{{TUR}}

• Türk Hava Kurumu (THK)

{{Aircraft specs

|prime units? = met

|crew=two, pilot and observer

|length m=8.75

|length ft=28

|length in=9

|span m=11.24

|span ft=36

|span in=11

|height m=2.97

|height ft=9

|height in=9

|wing area sqm=39.5

|wing area sqft=425

|empty weight kg=1,200

|empty weight lb=2,650

|gross weight kg=1,700

|gross weight lb=3,750

|eng1 number=1

|eng1 name=Fiat A.12bis piston engine

|eng1 kw=170

|eng1 hp=230

|max speed kmh=200

|max speed mph=120

|endurance=3 hours 30 minutes

|ceiling m=5,500

|ceiling ft=18,000

|climb rate ms=2.5

|climb rate ftmin=490

|armament = *2 × fixed, forward-firing .303 Vickers machine guns

• 1 × flexible .303 Vickers machine gun for observer

}}

{{aircontent

|related=

|similar aircraft=

|sequence=

|lists=

|see also=

}}

• Karolina Borchardt, the first Polish woman to earn a pilot's license, completed her first solo flight in an Ansaldo A.300 in 1928{{Cite news |date=2020-11-26 |title=Karolina Iwaszkiewicz. Mistrzyni z lotniska Rakowice |url=https://i.pl/karolina-iwaszkiewicz-mistrzyni-z-lotniska-rakowice/ar/c15-15311051 |access-date=2025-03-24 |work=Portal i.pl |language=pl-PL}}

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Ansaldo A.300}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Bourret|first1=Alain|title=Courrier des Lecteurs|journal=Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et son histoire |date=April 2001 |issue=97 |page=5 |trans-title= Readers' Letters |language=fr |issn=1243-8650}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Duwelz|first1=Yves|title=L'Ansaldo A.300 en service dans l'Aéronautique Militaire belge|journal=Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et Son Histoire |date=December 1999 |issue=80 |pages=28–42 |trans-title=The Ansaldo A.300 of the Belgian Air Force|language=French |issn=1243-8650}}
• {{cite book |last=Stroud |first=John |title=European Transport Aircraft since 1910 |year=1966 |publisher=Putnam |location=London }}
• {{cite book |last= Taylor |first= John W. R. |title=Combat Aircraft of the World: from 1909 to the present |year=1969 |publisher=Parragon Books |location=New York}}
• {{cite book |last= Taylor |first= Michael J. H. |title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation |year=1989 |publisher=Studio Editions |location=London }}
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Hirschauer |editor1-first=Louis |editor2-last=Dollfus |editor2-first=Charles |title=L'Année Aéronautique: 1919-1920 |date=1920 |publisher=Dunod |location=Paris |page=43 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6553380s/f55.item}}
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Hirschauer |editor1-first=Louis |editor2-last=Dollfus |editor2-first=Charles |title=L'Année Aéronautique: 1920-1921 |date=1921 |publisher=Dunod |location=Paris}} ([https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65534129/f65.item p. 53] for 300/3, [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65534129/f67.item p. 55] for 300C)
• {{cite journal |last1=Wauthy|first1=Jean-Luc|last2=de Neve|first2=Florian|name-list-style=amp|title=Les aéronefs de la Force Aérienne Belge, deuxième partie 1919–1935|journal=Le Fana de l'Aviation |date=June 1995 |issue=305 |pages=28–33 |issn=0757-4169|language=fr|trans-title=Aircraft of the Belgian Air Force}}

{{Ansaldo aircraft}}

{{Fiat aircraft}}

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Ansaldo A.300

Category:Biplanes

Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft

Category:1910s Italian military reconnaissance aircraft

Category:Aircraft first flown in 1919

Category:Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear

Category:Single-engined piston aircraft