02/28/2025. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Born October 8,1987, Ottorino Pomilio incorporated on January 19, 1916 the Società Anonima per Costruzione Aeronautiche Ing. O. Pomilio & C. (Ing. O. Pomilio & C. Aircraft Construction Company Ltd.) at a new airport outside Turin. Ottorino's brother Alessandro and Ernesto also entered the company.

The first model built was the Pomilio PC, an equal-span armed reconnaissance biplane. Of mixed construction it had two open cockpits in tandem and a fixed landing gear with a drag shoe under the tail. It was powered by a 260 hp Fiat A.12 six-cylinder liquid-cooled in-line engine. Its armament consisted of two Revelli machine guns, one mounted above the upper wing and one in the rear cockpit on a flexible mount. The type entered service in March 1917, and ca. 70 were built, but were found to have poor stability.

Pomilio PD (P.3824) (Johan Visschedijk Collection) APS No. 4220

The improved Pomilio PD type had a new cowling and a ventral vertical stabilizer and other modifications, a total of 431 were produced.

In mid-1917, the Pomilio PC and PD were superseded by the main production version, the PE, of which 984 examples were built. It featured a modified tail unit with increased area and a more powerful 300 hp Fiat A.12 engine. The model was improved throughout its production, and late production examples had a single synchronized machine gun and one or two Lewis guns in the rear cockpit.

Three months before the end of the war, August 1918, the Pomilio brothers sold their factory to Ansaldo, and moved to the USA.

The pictured P.3820 on top of the page, here at Langley Field, was probably the first PE model, characterized by the vertical fuselage radiator and fully-cowled engine but still with the original fin. The aircraft was shipped to the United States in August 1917, confirming the importance that Pomilio, like other Italian manufacturers, attributed to the American markets."

With thanks to Kees Kort for the supplied details.