Thanks folks! I have surrendered my earlier fantasy of proceeding numerically by designation. I'm afraid that it's an organizational dog's breakfast from here on
Un Colpo di Fulmine! - The Aer.Macchi C.201ter Fighter-BomberThe Macchi C.201 was intended as a higher-powered derivative of the C.200
Saetta ... but that didn't pan out. With the cancellation of Fiat's 1,000 hp A.76 R.C.40 engine, that original C.201 approach foundered. So, for the near-complete prototype C.201 (MM.436), the airframe was simply adapted for the C.200's A.74 R.C.38. The C.201's finer fuselage design resulted in some performance gain ... but not enough.
Pure horsepower was required to gain the performance that Mario Castoldi's knew his fighter's airframe was capable of. At Castoldi's instigation, a Daimler Benz DB 601A-1 engine was imported from Germany. The Ministero dell'Aeronautica then acquire license-production rights on behalf of Alfa Romeo who would build this engine for Italian use as the R.A.1000 R.C.41-I. Accordingly, the MdA ordered another C.201 airframe (MM.445) to be completed with an imported Daimler Benz engine. This aircraft flew as the prototype C.202
Folgore in August 1940.
It would take Breda another 8 months to rejig C.200 tooling at Sesto San Giovanni for C.202 production and over a year before the first operational
Folgore fighter would see service with the Regia Aeronautica. In the meantime, at their Varese factory, Aer.Macchi had begun turning out similar C.204 fighters powered by domestic Isotta-Fraschini
Asso L.121 R.C.40 upright V-12s. However, I-F's L.121 output was quite limited and Alfa Romeo's deliveries rarely exceeded fifty R.A.1000s per month. [1] With such a paltry output of new fighters, the MdA concluded that the mediocre C.200 would also need to be retained in production.
Aeronautica Macchi put forward an alternative proposal. Rather than continuing
Saetta production, Aer.Macchi proposed a revised C.201 concept. This new aircraft - identical to the C.202 and C.204 aft of the firewall - would be powered by the
Saetta's lower-powered Fiat A.74 radial engine. Superior performance (compared with the C.200, at least) would be assured by the higher fineness ratio inherent in employing the slimmer C.202/C.204 fuselage. The
Saetta's fuselage 'hump' had now disappeared altogether, made possible by slipping the new fighter's gun barrel's in between the Fiat radial's cylinder heads.
The Ministero dell'Aeronautica accepted Aer.Macchi's proposal, now designated C.201
ter. [2] The first machine would be created from the unfinished second prototype C.201 (MM.437). [3] Using many C.204 components, the prototype C.201
ter came together very quickly. Compared with the original C.201 (or, indeed the C.200), the C.201
ter had revised engine mounts with an accordingly higher thrust line. As noted, the barrels of the twin 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT guns passed between the cylinders on the C.201
ter. The higher engine mounts also resulted in a completely revised exhaust manifold system.
Top The prototype C.201
ter (MM.437) as rolled out at Lonate Pozzolo (Varese) airfield.
Production of the C.201
ter commenced very smoothly and the aircraft were interspered among the C.204s at Varese-Schiranna (C.201
ter serie I) and C.202s at Breda, Sesto S. Giovanni/Bresso (
serie II). [4] Initial production C.201
ters differed little from the prototype. Breda introduced the C.201
ter serie IV with additional 7.7 mm wing guns but this was overshadowed by Aer.Macchi's
serie III - the C.201
ter-cb (
caccia bombardiere), a fighter-bomber adaptation with twin wing racks. Most were intended for use in Libya (
Africa Settentrionale) and later
serie III aircraft were fitted with built-in dust filters similar to those of C.202s.
Top An early production C.201
ter-ch/AS fighter-bomber. This aircraft has been 'Africanized' but lacks the later-style carburettor intake with integral dust filter.
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[1] It had been hoped that Alfa production would augment DB 601A imports but Germany was reluctant to release many Daimler Benz engines for export.
[2] The C.201
bis was an unbuilt version of the A.76-powered C.201 with added 7.7 mm wing guns. The C.201
ter was dubbed
Fulmine (Lightning Bolt) but this name found no popular usage (perhaps, being confusingly similar in meaning to
Folgore).
[3] MM.437 was originally scheduled to become the first prototype C.204. However, in the end, a pre-production C.202 airframe was re-engined as the first C.204.
[4] When Aer.Macchi transferred C.204 production to the Società Aeronautica Italiana 'Ambrosini' plant across town, SAI Ambrosini also took over Macchi's C.201
ter production.