We went up to Seattle today on a mission to see some aviation museums. The Boeing Museum of Flight is certainly a must see as far as aviation museums in the world are concerned. They have in their collection this aircraft. I have to admit that I was stunned to see it. It is a Caproni Ca 20. It is famous because it is the first real fighter plane ever built. It had a forward facing machine gun mounted (precariously!) above the prop disk. It was built in 1914. It was the only one built because the Italian military wanted Caproni to put all his effort into heavy bombers. The other really interesting thing is that it is in its original as-manufactured state. It has the original fabric. It was stored for 85 years by the Caproni family before it came to Boeing. Both Richard and I (independantly) checked to see if there was a real engine behind the spinner. Indeed, the enging is there.