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. For reconnaissance purposes, the plane could be equipped with a radio and a camera. 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 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. ==Operational history==

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. ==Variants==

;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. ;A.300T: Eight passenger airliner. At least one built 1921. ;A.400:prototype ==Operators==

; • Belgian Air Force ; • Corpo Aeronautico Militare ; • Polish Air Force ; • Soviet Air Force ; • Türk Hava Kurumu (THK) ==Specifications (A.300/4) ==