[charley]

Please note that the Campini-Caproni did not use an ALFA engine to drive its compressor the engine that was used was an Isotta -Fraschini unit, the qoute is in error ,I believe this was corrected in a previous posting.

What Campini did in his thermojet was place a piston engine within an enclosed duct. The mechanical energy of this engine was used to turn three propellers placed behind the engine. Two of these ducted propellers were used to compress the incoming air while the third helped to direct the flow and minimize turbulence within the engine. This compressed air was mixed with fuel by means of a ring of kerosene injectors in the aft portion of the duct. The mixture was then combusted and exhausted out of the nozzle at high speed to produce thrust. Conceptually, the engine can almost be thought of as adding an afterburner to a piston-powered propeller engine.