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The Fiat AS.1 was a light touring aircraft developed in Italy in the late 1920s. It was a basic and conventional design: a parasol wing monoplane with tailskid undercarriage and seating for two in tandem open cockpits. The type proved extremely popular, and the production run would eventually extend to over 500 machines, with roughly half of these purchased by the Regia Aeronautica as trainers and liaison aircraft. Construction was of wood throughout, covered by plywood, fabric, and (around the nose) metal. A later development, designated TR.1 featured a metal structure instead. AS.1s were used successfully in a number of competitions and record-breaking events. In August 1929, they won the team event at Challenge 1929, and in January 1930, an AS.1 piloted by Renato Donati with mechanic Gino Capannini was used to set endurance, distance, and altitude records in its class (29 hr 4 min 14 sec, 2,746.2 km/1,706.4 mi, and 6,782 m/22,251 ft respectively). On 28 December 1932, Furio Niclot and Mariano Lanciani used a specially-engined example to set the seaplane altitude record in its class (7,362 m/24,154 ft), then swapping wheels for pontoons, the same aircraft went on to set the equivalent landplane record two days later (9,282 m/30,453 ft). Long-distance feats included flights from Rome to Mogadishu and Vercelli to Tokyo (both by Francis Lombardi and Gino Capannini) and an aerial circumnavigation of Africa (27,600 km/17,150 mi in 54 days by Francis Lombardi, Count Lodovico Mazzotti, and Mario Rasini). |
