Copyright 2010 by Brandon Cope

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CANT Z.1007 Alcione medium bomber

The Z.1007 was an important Italian medium bomber, seeing service in the skies over Greece, Russia and the Mediterranean (a very small number were also used in the Battle of Britain). A tri-motor plane of wooden construction, the Alcione (”Kingfisher”) was introduced in 1939. Some 560 were built, 526 of the -bis and -ter versions. Apart from it's role as a bomber, it was also used for reconnaissance and anti-shipping.

The crew consists of a pilot, copilot, bombardier/navigator/ventral gunner, dorsal gunner/radio operator and waist gunner/flight engineer. The co-pilot was located behind the pilot rather than at his side, which gave him restricted forward vision. Note that the waist gunner can only fire one of the two 7.7mm guns at a time. The Z.1007bis uses 100.7 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage.

Subassemblies: Medium Fighter-Bomber chassis +4, Heavy Fighter-Bomber Wings with STOL option +4, three Large Weapon engine pods +2, full-rotation Small Weapon turret +1 [Body:T], three retractable wheels +1.
Powertrain: 3*746-kW aerial HP gasoline engine [Pods:F] with 3*746-kW prop and 990-gallon self-sealing fuel tanks [Wings and Body].
Occupancy: 5 CS Cargo: 6 Body

Armor
All: 2/3
Turret: 0/+20 B
Waist gunner: 0/+15 RL
Bombardier: 0/+15 B
Pilot/copilot: 0/+15 LRBT

Armament
Medium Aircraft HMG/12.7mm Breda-SAFAT [Tur:F] (350).
Medium Aircraft HMG/12.7mm Breda-SAFAT [Body:B] (350).
2*Aircraft LMG/7.7mm Breda-SAFAT [Body:R,L] (500 each).
18*220-lb bombs [Body:U]

Equipment
Body: Large radio receiver and transmitter, bombsight, backup driver option, precision navigation instruments, autopilot, 2,645-lb bomb bay. Wings: 1,100-lb hardpoint each.

Statistics

HT: 8
HP: 420 [body], 300 [each wing], 120 [each pod], 45 [turret], 40 [each wheel]
 

Design Notes
Design speed was 273 mph. The historical speed has been used, as well as the actual wing area (807 square feet). Weight, cost and HPs of the chassis was doubled.  Loaded weight was reduced 3%. Armor on the body and wings was wooden.

The bomb bay could handle bombs as large as 1,100 lbs or as small as 33 lbs. Instead of internal bombs, it could carry two 450mm torpedoes underwing. The plane could load up to 4,900 lbs of combined ordnance internally and externally, but this restricted range to 400 miles as less fuel could be carried (due to weight restrictions). Alternatively, it could carry an extra 360 gallons of fuel in an auxiliary tank the bomb bay.

Variants
The original Z.1007 (1937) used 615-kW engines. Thirty-four were built and they were never used operationally, instead flown as trainers. They mounted one dorsal 12.7mm Breda and one ventral 7.7mm Breda, with a 1,760-lb bomb load. They also used slightly smaller wings, but no difference in game terms.

Early planes had a single tailfin, while later models used twin rudders to improve visibility for the dorsal gunner to the rear and stability (-1 aSR with single rudder). This does not change stats otherwise.

The Z.1007ter upgraded to 858-kW engines, giving a top speed of 311 mph and range of nearly 1,400 miles. Internal bomb load was reduced to 2,200 lbs. Less than 50 were built.

The lone Z.1015 used 1,140-kW engines to reach a top speed of 348 mph.