Brian Like your Boulton-Paul Defender (good name too). Is the aft portion of the canopy from P-39? (I played with a mid-engined
Defiant concept based on the Airfix kit.
In my youth, my own less imaginative Airfix kit build saw plenty of action ... usually getting shot down my Hawk Bf 109G
I plan to do a RN FAA version with folding outer wings (containing a couple of machine guns), arrestor hook etc as a alternative to the Blackburn Roc
Now that
would be a huge improvement for the FAA!
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"Wingless Wonders" (Part 3)Italian efforts to introduce electrical lift generators (ELG) into military service proved rather traumatic. With great fanfare, Benito Mussolini announced the
Programma SE (
Sollevamento Elettrico - the Italian air force's plan to re-align to the electrical field on mass (EFM) effect. Central to this
Regia Aeronautica plan was the formation of Tesla-Italia at Guidonia and soonest possible service introduction of
Volta lift generators. The
Volta tipo I - meant for bombers and transport aircraft - and the
Volta II for fighters proved utter failures - being both underpowered
and unreliable. [1]
Italy quickly fell behind in aeronautical technology and was forced to license-build foreign ELG designs. To save face, Tesla-Italia retained the
Volta name for these licensed lift generators. The
Volta tipo III for large aircraft was licensed from GE-Westinghouse in the US. The
Volta IV - aka '
Volta Caccia' - was a licensed copy of the British Tesla-Royce ELG for use in fighters and attack aircraft. Actual ELG production was farmed out to private industry. Castellini O.M. of Brescia [2] produced the
Volta IIIs while Tesla-C.E.R. of Veneto [3] produced the Tesla-Royce
Volta IV.
Progetto Italiani - the Fiat Aviazione C.R.38Perhaps understandably, the renewed Italian efforts at electrical lift generator-equipped aircraft were of an experimental nature. The first ELG 'fighter' was the C.R.32S ('S' for
Sperimentali or Experimental) which was simply a 'de-winged' Fiat C.R.32 fitted with imported British lift generators. The relative success of that venture led Fiat Aviazione designer Celestino Rosatelli to draught a fresh design - the C.R.38 four-gun fighter. The C.R.38 was powered by two stub wing-mounted 550 hp Fiat A.34 RC.30 23 litre liquid-cooled V-12s driving twin
Volta Caccia ELGs. Initial armament was two 7.7 mm and two 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns in the nose-cone. In C.R.38
serie 2° fighters, armament standardized upon four of the heavier-calibre guns.
The Fiat C.R.38 was something of a compromise - with modern ELG drive being married to a conservative airframe design and 1930-vintage aero-engine technology. It was a reasonable attempt at a first ELG fighter but limited engine output [4] resulted in a marginal performance for the C.R.38. As a result, most operational Fiat CR.38 fighters had one - or sometimes two - of their 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT guns removed to reduce weight in hopes of augmenting performance. Despite the aircraft's obvious limitations, production was actually increased to replace obsolete winged fighters in
Regia Aeronautica service as soon as feasible.
Top Fiat C.R.38 3°
serie three-gunned fighter of 95ª
Squadriglia in one of several
Regia Aeronautica temperate schemes. Yellow recognition paint was introduced in June 1940 for the Corsican campaign.
A Second Arrow - the Aeronautico Macchi C.201 SaetaIt was obvious to Italian planners that the
Regia Aeronautica would soon need fully-modern fighters to replace the Fiat C.R.38s. A design competition resulted in prototypes from Caproni-Vizola, IMAM, Fiat Aviazione, [5] and AerMacchi. The declared winner was the Macchi C.201
Saeta designed by Mario Castoldi. In contrast with the C.R.38, the
Saeta featured a stressed-skinned aluminum structure and was powered by Fiat Motori's new A.81 - a 730 hp twin-row, 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine. [6] The new fighter's nose-cone was detachable, making changes to armament simple on the production line - or even in the field. Standard armament was two 12.7 mm Breda machine guns and twin 20 mm Scotti cannons ... although this was sometimes reduced by squadron armourers to save weight.
Bottom A three-gunned Macchi C.201 of the 85ª
Squadriglia in the
Regia Aeronautica desert camouflage. Flying out of Bône on bomber escort duties, 'Bianco 2' was lost to an intercepting Bloch MB 154 of GC II/3 over Alger.
BTW: Images are based upon profiles by Zygmunt Szeremeta (C.R.32 and C.R.42), Stephen Mudgett (C.202), and an anonymous sideview of a 169ª
Squadriglia C.200 (with, IIRC, a canopy borrowed from another C.200 by Teodor Liviu Morosanu).
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[1] Testing of pre-production
Volta I lift generators would result in the death of the
Il Duce's son, Bruno Mussolini.
[2] In full, this firm was Castellini Officine Meccaniche S.p.A. of Cazzago San Martino (Brescia).
[3] 'Tesla-C.E.R.' was properly the C.E.R. Gruppi Elettrogeni (Motori e Generatori) s.r.l.
[4] This output required the use of 94 octane petrol. In the field, such high-octane fuel was rarely available. So, 500 hp is probably more realistic for operational Fiat A.34 engines.
[5] The Fiat submission was the G.52 designed by Giuseppe Gabrielli. Like the winning Macchi C.201, the G.52 was powered by twin Fiat A.81 radials.
[6] The Fiat A.81 was a
motore quadrato (square engine) with both bore and stroke measuring 140 mm.