Fiat Aviazione
4 types · 0 airframes
Pre-1950 Narrative
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Aircraft Types
Fiat BR.20 Cicogna
The BR.20 Cicogna ("stork") was a twin-engine medium bomber built by Fiat Aviazione, the first all-metal Italian bomber to enter service. Designed by Celestino Rosatelli, it flew on 10 February 1936 and entered service that September; more than 500 were built, scoped by variant as at least 233 of the original model, 264 to 279 of the improved BR.20M and 15 of the final BR.20bis. It fought in Spain from 1937, in Japanese service over China, and then across the Mediterranean, over Britain with the Corpo Aereo Italiano, in North Africa and on the Eastern Front. Outpaced by newer fighters, it ended the war on maritime patrol and training duties; the last example was retired in 1946 and none survive today.
Fiat CR.42 Falco
A biplane fighter built by Fiat Aviazione, the CR.42 Falco was the last biplane fighter to enter production — remaining on the line until 1943 — and became the most numerous Italian fighter of the Second World War; the RAF Museum counts 1,709 built between 1938 and 1943. First flown on 23 May 1938, it fought for Italy across the Mediterranean and North and East Africa, joined the Battle of Britain from Belgium in 1940, and was exported to Belgium, Hungary and Sweden. Four complete examples survive in European museums, one of them under restoration to fly in England.
Fiat G.50 Freccia
The Fiat G.50 Freccia (Arrow), built by Fiat Aviazione and first flown on 26 February 1937, was Italy's first all-metal monoplane fighter. Around 778 were built, most of them by Fiat's CMASA subsidiary: 212 G.50s, 421 of the longer-range G.50bis and 108 two-seat G.50B trainers. Manoeuvrable but underpowered and lightly armed, it was evaluated in Spain in 1939 and fought over France, Belgium, Greece and North Africa. Its most successful service was with Finland, which ordered thirty-five against the Soviet Union and kept the type in front-line use until 1944. A single G.50bis survives, in Belgrade.
Fiat G.91
The Fiat G.91 is a light strike fighter designed by Giuseppe Gabrielli and built by Fiat Aviazione, the winner of NATO's 1953 competition for a standard Light Weight Strike Fighter. First flown on 9 August 1956, it is a small, subsonic, single-seat jet powered by a Bristol Siddeley Orpheus and built to operate from semi-prepared airstrips. Production was split between Fiat, which built 174 aircraft for Italy, and Flugzeug-Union Süd, which licence-built 294 in Germany, the first jets built there since the Second World War; counting prototypes and pre-production aircraft, 756 were completed before production ended in 1977. Italy, West Germany and Portugal operated the type, Portugal flying it in combat in its African colonies; Italy retired the last G.91s in 1995.