I have posted this one before on the Whiskey-India? and Hotel-Sierra websites. I throw it up here for your perusal.
Germany had a shortage of Diamler-Benz motors. So when Il Duce pissed off Der Fuehrer, he embargoed the motors that were to go in the Bf.110 airframes that Italy had on order. The R.A. got Il Professor Zappata, who was a master of the tri-motor to come to the rescue.
The Z.333 was the answer. The Italians were experienced with machine guns in the cowl, so lack of frontal firepower was no problem. Extra fuel tanks took care of the range and endurance problem.
The fighter jocks refused to fly it because it was not nimble enough in aerobatics. It was assigned to a S.M.79 Spaviero unit at Vigata, Sicily.
Rumor has it that the assigned pilot faked a crash and had his relatives salvage the plane for cash, to supplement their subsistence farming, smuggling, and racketeering.
This is the old 1958 Airfix Bf.110 kit with three cowlings from Hasegawa A6M Zero kits. The props, motors, and decals came from the scrap-box. I used the pre-war camouflage with the rudder stripes to add to the uniqueness of the build. It is one of my personal favorites.
Adios, Larry.
