By 1936, the Cuerpo Aeronáutico del Perú was extremely unhappy with the Ca 111 which had been procured from Italy as bombers. In negotiations with Caproni (through the Peruvian subsidiary, Caproni Peruana), a specially modified version of the Ca 135, known as the Ca 135 Tipo Peru, was created. This had many of the qualities that the Peruvians desired, but proved unreliable in Peruvian service. As a result, only the six Italian-built Tipo Peru were purchased. All six had been delivered by 1937. Planned production in Peru was cancelled.
[all of the above is true in the "real world" - the following is NOT!]
Besides their reliability problems, the Ca 135s were disappointing in both range and service ceiling. With potential targets in surrounding nations as high as 10,000' elevation, the Ca-135's 21,000' ceiling was insufficient, and it's range of only 727 miles was even worse. Therefore, in 1939 the Peruvians turned to the Japanese, with whom a growing military relationship had been developing. After extended negotiations, the Japanese agreed to sell the Peruvians a manufacturing license for the Mitsubishi G3M2 Model 21, which had by then been superseded on the Mitsubishi lines by the Model 22 (and the G4M ("Betty") was in flight test). The Japanese also sent two disassembled G3M2 Model 21s as pattern aircraft.
The G3M was much more satisfactory in Peruvian service, with a service ceiling of over 30,000' and a range almost four times that of the Tipo Peru. Reliability was also much improved.
Caproni Peruana assembled the imported G3M2s, and began tooling up for full scale production. Progress was slow, and Peruvian production G3Ms did not begin to enter service until mid-1943. The two pattern aircraft though, were pressed into CAP service and served alongside the Ca 135s in the 1941 war with Ecuador. One of those aircraft is shown in the profile below.
More to come...