by Rita Cipalla

Battered and stained, its cappuccino-colored fabric stretched taut over wings and body, the 101-year-old Italian-built Caproni Ca 20 greets visitors to Seattle's Museum of Flight. With its wood struts and a single propeller, it's hard to believe this small, fragile aircraft is considered the world's first fighter plane.

Prominently displayed in the World War I gallery, the monoplane is the oldest original aircraft in the museum's collection. Only one Ca 20 was ever built before the Italian government, on the eve of World War I, rejected the design in favor of heavier bombers.

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Fonte: L'italo-Americano