Thanks Brian!
And here's the next installment. After the Italian Regia Aeronautica rejected the Cant Z.508 as unsuitable for the heavy bomber role, and after they were finished breaking records with it, they foisted it off on their Tripolitan allies. The Tripolitans liked the heavy flying boat, which became, for a time, the largest, heaviest aircraft in FTAF service. Barbary aircraft obtained a license to build the Z.508, and built 30, which were designated Barbary Ba 200.
The Ba 200 was well-liked, but it was easy meat for Farallonian fighters as it was only lightly armed. Barbary studied upgrading the defensive armament, but determined that the additional weight would make the aircraft underpowered. Therefore, they decided to up-engine the aircraft, installing three 1175 HP Alfa Romeo R.A.1000RC.41-1a (which were now being built in Tripolitania, with the tacit approval of the Italians, but without a license from Daimler-Benz). The new aircraft was designated Ba 200bis and carried six 7.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns in three manually-operated turrets. Twenty-five Ba 200bis were built and served alongside Ba 200s.
In 1942, work began on converting the Ba 200 to a land-based long range bomber. The first aircraft was a conversion of a Ba 200bis which had landed on a rocky beach, totally wiping out the planing bottom, but leaving the remainder of the aircraft mostly intact. After some 8 months of design and construction work, it was determined that a more extensive redeisign was necessary, and the first Ba 300 was finally rolled out in late 1943. This used the wing, tail, and nose of the Ba 200, but featured a completely redesigned lower fuselage, with a mid-wing layout and FOUR R.A. 1000RC.41s. The result was a heavy bomber with a range of over 1200 miles while carrying a 2000 pound payload. One hundred were built.
Barbary's next development was a land-based patrol-bomber version, which could carry torpedoes, depth charges or bombs internally and had a maximum 2450 mile range in the patrol configuration.
