Fiat BR.20

The main task of the BR.20 was medium-range bombing.

It had many features that were very advanced for its time: with a maximum speed of over 400 km/h (250 mph) and a high cruise speed of 320 km/h (200 mph), it was as fast as aircraft like the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The range and payload were also very good.

Spain


Italy deployed six BR.20s to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in June 1937 for use by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to fight in support of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Nationalist forces in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], with a further seven aircraft sent to Spain in July 1938.

They took part in bombing raids over [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and at the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], proving to be sturdy and accurate bombers.

The BR.20s were fast enough to generally avoid interception from the Republican [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Losses were very low; nine of the 13 BR.20s sent to Spain survived to the end of the war when they were handed over to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to serve with the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

While the Cicognas were successful, just 13 examples were sent to Spain compared to at least 99 SM.79s,
which meant that the Sparviero was almost the Italian standard bomber, especially on day missions.

Japan


In July 1937, when [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] entered into full scale war with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]), the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] found itself short of modern long-range bombers pending delivery of the[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] "Sally", which was undergoing prototype trials, and so required an interim purchase of aircraft from abroad.

Italy was willing to give priority to any Japanese orders over its own requirements, and offered the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and the BR.20.

While the Caproni could not meet the Japanese requirements, the BR.20 closely matched the specification, and so an initial order was placed in late 1937 for 72 Br.20s, soon followed by an order for a further 10 aircraft.

Deliveries to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] commenced in February 1938, with the Br.20 (designated the I-Type (Yi-shiki)) replacing the obsolete [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], equipping two Air Wings (the 12th and 20th Sentai), which were heavily deployed on long-range bombing missions against Chinese cities and supply centres during the winter of 1938–39.

The BR.20s were operating with no fighter cover at the extremes of their range and consequently incurred heavy losses from Chinese fighters, as did the early Ki-21s that shared the long-range bombing tasks.

The fabric-covered surfaces were viewed as vulnerable, even if the main structure of this aircraft was noticeably robust.

The aircraft had unsatisfactory range and defensive armament, but the first Ki-21s that entered service were not much better, except for their all-metal construction and the potential for further development when better engines became available (both types initially used two 746 kW/1,000 hp engines).

A ce sujet voir le Fana de l'Aviation 04/ 1974

Fiat Br.20 Type I Yi-Shiki : un bombardier italien au service de l'Empire du Soleil Levant

Pa B.Millot et G.Apostolo

The 12th Sentai was redeployed to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-Manchurian border to fight in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], but when this war ended, in September 1939, the BR.20s were progressively withdrawn and replaced by the Ki-21.

Despite having been phased out from operational service, the BR.20 was allocated the Allied code name "Ruth".

World War II


Following [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in April 1940, and with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] forces pushing deep into [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], Italy declared war on France and the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on 10 June 1940.

At this time, only four wings operated BR.20s compared to the 14 wings equipped with SM.79s, with 172 Cicognas being in service with the Regia Aeronautica including those not yet delivered to operational squadrons.

The units equipped with the Cicogna were the 7°, 13°, 18° and 43° Stormo (Wing), all based in Northern Italy.

The aircraft fought in the brief campaign against [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

On the night of 12 June, eight bombers attacked [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] dockyard, while the next day attacks were made against [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] airfields.

On 15 June, two BR.20s were shot down by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the French air defences in the south having not been defeated by the German attack in the north.

Small scale air raids continued until the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], with many BR.20s also used in support for the Army, and as reconnaissance aircraft.

Later, they were used against Great Britain, serving with the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], based in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] during the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The 13° and 43° Stormo formed the major bombing strength of the Corpo Aereo Italiano.

They were fully equipped with BR.20Ms, but this did not prevent one disaster after the other.

The ferry journey from Italy to their bases in Belgium ended with five bombers crashing, and a further 12 being forced to land en-route due to poor visibility.

The first mission, a night attack of 16 aircraft on [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], lead to three bombers being lost, with one crashing on [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and two becoming lost on their return, failing to find their airfield and their crews bailing out.

In a famous battle on 11 November, a formation of 10 BR.20s, escorted by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] fighters on a daylight raid on Harwich, was intercepted by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Despite the escort, three bombers were downed (together with three CR.42s) and four damaged, with no loss to the
Hurricanes.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] commented on this raid, which occurred on the same day as the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s attack on [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]:

"They might have found better employment defending their Fleet at Taranto."

The Italians did not attempt further day missions, and re-commenced flying night missions, which also proved ineffective owing to the poor training in night navigation of the Italian crews.

The BR.20-equipped units flew their last mission against Britain on 2 January 1941, and were then withdrawn back to Italy, having lost ¼ of their strength.

The Italian contribution to the Battle of Britain was both minimal and a substantial failure.

Still, almost 200 modern aircraft were involved, weakening the Regia Aeronautica's presence in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

During the course of the war, BR.20s were used in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].


They were also used extensively in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] against [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. By 1943, when the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was signed, many had been relegated to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], although 81 were with operational units, mostly in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and Italy; also later serving on the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in October 1940, and deployed increasing numbers of BR.20s in attacks on [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] from bases in Italy and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in support of the Italian Army while it was being driven back into Albania.


They were involved in heavy battles with the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and British, often facing fierce RAF opposition, as happened on 27 February 1941, when four BR.20s were lost or heavily damaged.

This force was redeployed against [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] during the more successful [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in April 1941, using a strong detachment (131 aircraft) in four groups.

BR.20s were used against [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] from May 1942, with the 99 and 31 Gruppo carrying out night bombing attacks.

The two gruppi carried out raids against the besieged island almost nightly, but losses were heavy, and these
two units were replaced by the 55 and 116 gruppi in October.

Attrition remained high, and BR.20 units continued to be rotated to bases on [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to continue the offensive against Malta though 1941 and 1942.

From March 1941, 98 Gruppo was sent to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to bomb the British forces, in particular the key port of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

North [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was never a primary theatre for the Cicogna, but 13 Wing was sent there to continue the night attacks against the British in July 1941–April 1942, while the last use over Africa was when 55 Gruppo aircraft contested [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Several BR.20s were sent to Russia in August 1942, to perform long-range reconnaissance from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in support of the retreating Italian forces.

Other BR.20s were used to drop food and other material to the Italian Army, often trapped in the Balkans, faced with Yugoslavian resistance.

After the first year of war, the limitation of this type were evident.

It was highly vulnerable to enemy attacks, as Japanese experience had shown in 1938, and the aircraft was replaced by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in almost all operational units that had employed the BR.20.

While the main front line task remained that of night bombing, especially against Malta, other roles included reconnaissance and the escort of convoys in the Mediterranean.


For escort duties, aircraft were fitted with bombs and possibly depth charges, but with no other special equipment.

They were used in this role from 1941, with 37° Wing (Lecce), 13° Wing (end of 1942), 116°, 32 Group (Iesi, from
1943), and 98° (based in Libya) from 1941.

One of the 55° aircraft was lost in August 1941 against British [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], while between 9 August–11
September 1941, 98° escorted 172 ships from Italy to Libya. In almost all these units, the Cicogna was operated together with other aircraft, such as the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

This escort task was quite effective, at least psychologically, although the Cicogna was hampered by the lack of special equipment and, consequently, no submarines were sunk.