Breda Ba.25

Ba.25
Ba.25
	Ba.25/D.2 of Regia Aeronautica
General information
Type	Trainer aircraft
Manufacturer	Società Italiana Ernesto Breda
Primary users	Regia Aeronautica Royal Hungarian Air Force
Number built	763 + 3 prototypes
History
Manufactured	1931–1938
Introduction date	1932
First flight	1931

The Breda Ba.25 was an Italian two-seat biplane trainer designed and built by the Breda company. It was the most widely used Italian basic trainer of the 1930s.

Design and development

The first flight took place near Milan in 1931. Initially designed as a single-seat aircraft, the prototype was later converted to a two-seat fuselage. Flight testing of the two-seat variant was successful, and in late 1931 Regia Aeronautica ordered a series of 100 Ba.25 training aircraft. The student and instructor sat in open tandem cockpits, although some versions had a single-bay cockpit.

The initial production order was completed by 1935, but demand for the aircraft increased and production for the Regia Aeronautica totalled 719 by the end of 1938. Many others were produced for export or for private use with different radial engines like the Alfa Romeo Lynx or Walter Castor.

Operational history

The Ba.25 remained in service of the Regia Aeronautica as a training aircraft during World War II. Some of the aircraft were seized and handed over to the Allies. Paraguay bought four Breda Ba.25, one of them a Ba.25Idro. They were used as primary trainers from 1939 to 1945. ^[2] ^[3]

Variants

There were many minor variants:

Ba.25: Main production version.
Ba.25/Lynx: Fitted with a 149 kW (200 hp) Alfa Romeo Lynx engine.
Ba.25/D.2: Fitted with a 179 kW (240 hp) Alfa Romeo D2 engine.
Ba.25/Mezzo-Asso: Fitted with a 164 kW (220 hp) Isotta Fraschini Asso 200 engine.
Ba.25 Ridotto': Reduced-span aerobatic version.
Ba.25-I (I for Idro): Floatplane version (42 built, one for Paraguayan Naval Aviation)
Ba.26: Primary trainer with a longer wingspan and Walter NZ 120 engine, prototype only.
Ba.28: Export version with Piaggio-built Gnome-Rhône 7K engine for Norway, China and Ethiopia, among others.

The Ba.28 training aircraft was developed from the earlier Ba.25. It was also a biplane with a new, more powerful Piaggio Stella P.VII Z radial engine of 272 kW (365 hp) and had ailerons on the upper wing. In June 1936 the prototype was shown at the air show in Venice. The Italian Air Force in the same year ordered a series of 50 aircraft. During use in flight schools the Ba.28 proved not to be among the best – it was difficult to manage in the air. However, orders for the type arrived from abroad – were duly delivered to the following countries: Afghanistan (2), China (18), Norway (6), Austria (12) and Spain (6).

Operators

Kingdom of Afghanistan

Afghan Air Force

Austria

Austrian Air Force (1927-1938)

Bolivia

Bolivian Air Force operated 6 aircraft (1939)

China

Republic of China Air Force

Ecuador

Ecuadorian Air Force

Ethiopia

Ethiopian Air Force^[4]

Hungary

Royal Hungarian Air Force operated 3 aircraft

Kingdom of Italy

Italian Social Republic

Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana

Norway

Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service

Paraguay

Paraguayan Military Aviation used three Ba.25.
Paraguayan Naval Aviation used one Ba.25 Idro.

Spain

Spanish Air Force

Specifications (Ba.25)

Data from ^[5]

General characteristics

Crew: 2
Length: 7.80 m (25 ft 7 in) (Breda 25 Idro – 9.1 m (29.86 ft))
Wingspan: 9.98 m (32 ft 9 in)
Height: 2.8278 m (9 ft 3.33 in) (Breda 25 Idro – 3.6 m (11.81 ft))
Wing area: 25.0 m² (269 sq ft)
Empty weight: 788 kg (1,738 lb)
Gross weight: 2,288 kg (5,044 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Alfa Romeo D2 9-cyl. air-cooled radial piston engine, 180 kW (240 hp)

Performance

Maximum speed: 205 km/h (127 mph, 111 kn)
Cruise speed: 195 km/h (121 mph, 105 kn) (Breda 25 Idro – 150 km/h (93 mph))
Stall speed: 71 km/h (44 mph, 38 kn) (Breda 25 Idro – 90 km/h (56 mph))
Range: 500 km (310 mi, 270 nmi)
Service ceiling: 7,500 m (24,600 ft)
Rate of climb: 2.87 m/s (565 ft/min) ^[6]

Notes

^ "Breda Ba.25, immagini, scheda e storia". Archived from the original on 2014-09-26. Retrieved 2014-11-26.
^ Ba.25 entry at the Уголок неба website (Russian)
^ "La Contribución Italiana en la Aviación Paraguaya" by Antonio Luis Sapienza. Author's edition. Asunción. 2007
^ "Abyssinia 1935 - 1936". Nevington War Museum.
^ Thompson, Jonathan (1963). Italian Civil & Military Aircraft 1930–1945 (1st ed.). New York. ISBN 0-8168-6500-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Grey, C.G. (1972). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1938. London: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5734-4.

References

Grey, C.G. (1972). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1938. London: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5734-4.
Thompson, Jonathan (1963). Italian Civil & Military Aircraft 1930–1945 (1st ed.). New York. ISBN 0-8168-6500-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)