The top one looks very much like the Arsenal VG-33.
Thanks Logan ... that was the look I was going for.
Fiat/CMASA G.49 - A Second Arrow in the QuiverWith its old Fiat A.30 engine, the Fiat/CMASA G.48C catapult trainer was never going to be an operational aircraft. Knowing the
Regia Marina's preference for air-cooled engines, CMASA designer, Manlio Stiavelli, proposed a G.48 variant re-engined with the only available Fiat powerplant with a reputation for reliability -- the A.74 14-cylinder radial.
The RM agreed to Stiavelli's proposal but wanted to test this new model as a potential replacement for the now-outdated ICR.36 seaplane. Accordingly, CMASA adapted a G.48C airframe for both the A.74 radial and for modernized versions of the ICR.36's twin floats. The finished float fighter, designated ICS.49, was delivered to the Pola training school at
Puntisella. The RM was also expressed interested in a 'catapultibile' version of the same airframe. However, at this point, the
Ministero della Aeronautica intervened. The
Regia Marina had lost its chance at a new fighter design.
(Top) The prototype prior to its transfer to the Pola training school at Puntisella (and before having its SAFAR A.R.C.1 radio receiver installed).
Giuseppe Gabrielli had also been developing his fighter design, the Daimler-Benz powered G.50. The G.50 prototype was being demonstrated to the
Regia Aeronautica at Guidonia and production of this refined version had already begun at the Fiat factory in Turin. Stiavelli quickly adapted his A.74-powered design to the airframe of the G.50. The result was the CS.49bis.
The CS.49bis was ordered for the RA's
Gruppi d'Assalto as a partial replacement for the unstasfactory Breda 65. The Sottoserie 0 CS.49bis were conversions of Fiat-built airframes. For the Serie 1, CMASA combined Turin-built components with Marina di Pisa-built forward fuselages and engine mounts.
The CS.49bis
Serie 1 were armed with four 7.7mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns (two in the cowl and one in each outer wing panel) and fitted with a centre-line bomb rack. The
Serie 2 was uparmed with two 12.7mm Breda-SAFATs requiring twin bumps in the cowl (earning the type the nickname of "
l'urto"). The
Serie 2 could be fitted with twin underwing bomb racks or a single centre section rack. The
Serie 3 reintroduced the wing 7.7mm guns but at the expense of the wing rack option. The main production type, the
Serie 4, returned to the
Serie 2 armament arrangement but incorporated some cockpit armour and a dust-filter for the supercharger intake.
(Bottom) A Fiat/CMASA CS.50bis (Serie 2) of 159ª
Squadriglia, 12º
Gruppo, 50°
Stormo d'Assalto, Libya, Nov-Dec 1940. Special markings include the
Squadriglia emblem of Disney's
Ezechiele Lupo ('Zeke Wolf' aka
il lupo cattivo) on the tail fin together with "Antonio Dell'Oro" (in memory of the fallen Squadriglia Commander, Capitano Dell'Oro).
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