Fiat CR.42

It is still not certain how many CR.42s were built.

The most likely estimate is 1,819 in total, including the 63 (51 according to some sources) produced under [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] control and the 140 produced for export.

Operational history


Regia Aeronautica


The Fiat CR.42 entered service in May 1939, with the 53° Stormo, based at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] airport.

By the time Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940, about 300 aircraft had been delivered.

The Falcos defended airfields, cities, and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (Italian Royal Navy) bases until the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] with the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of 8 September 1943.


The Falcos also fought against the British [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] over Malta, and later against the British [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien],
sometimes with unexpected success.

The manoeuvrability of the Falcos concerned the British. "A RAF Intelligence report in late October 1940
circulated to all pilots and their squadrons, with copies to Prime Minister, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and the War Cabinet, declared:
'The manoeuvrability of the CR.42s, in particular their capacity to execute an extremely tight half roll, has caused considerable surprise to other pilots and undoubtedly saved many Italian fighters from destruction.'"

Malta


Over [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the CR.42 encountered Hurricanes for the first time on 3 July 1940.

That day, Flying Officer Waters (P2614) shot down an[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] bomber five miles (8 kilometers) off Kalafrana, but he was soon attacked in turn by the escorting Falcos that badly shot up his aircraft.

Waters crashed on landing and his Hurricane was written off.

The Hurricane pilots soon discovered that the Italian biplanes could out-manuever their aircraft easily.

Pilot Officer Jock Barber remembered :

"On my first combat, the 9 of July, I attacked the leader of a Squadriglia of Falcos, while [Flight Lieutenant] George Burges attacked an SM.79 bomber.

When I shot the CR.42 at a range of 100 yards [91 meters], he did a flick-roll and went spinning down.

I found myself engaged in dogfighting with the remaining CR.42s.

This went down to about 10,000 feet [3,048 meters]; by then I had used up all my ammunition without much success, although I am convinced I got quite a few strikes on the leader in the initial combat.

I realized pretty quickly that dogfighting with biplanes was just not on.

They were so manoeuvrable that it was very difficult to get in a shot, and I had to keep diving and turning to keep myself from being shot down.

George had by this time disappeared so I stuck my nose down and, with full throttle, was very thankful to get out of the way."

A week later, a dozen C.R.42s from 23° Gruppo appeared in the sky over Malta for a reconnaissance; Flight Lieutenants Peter Keeble and Burges scrambled to intercept them, and the resulting action greatly impressed the Malta defenders with the CR.42's manuevering capability.

Keeble attacked one CR.42 - probably the aircraft (MM4368) flown by Sottotenente Mario Benedetti of 74ª Squadriglia that crashed, killing its pilot, but then came under attack himself by the Falcos of Tenente Mario Pinna and Tenente
Oscar Abello.

Keeble tried to dogfight with the Italians, but his engine was hit and his Hurricane dived into the ground at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], near [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and blew up.

He was the first pilot to be killed in action at Malta.

Shortly after Keeble's loss, a meeting of all the pilots and senior staff was called to discuss the best ways of countering the agile C.R.42.

This was the first air victory in World War II of the CR.42 against the Hurricane.

A suggestion was made that the Hurricane should put down a bit of flaps as this might enable it to turn with the C.R.42, but the only realistic proposal was to climb above these aircraft to be in advantageous position.

Night fighter operations


The CR.42 was the main night fighter of the Regia Aeronautica, even if it was not equipped with[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and often lacked of radio equipment.

The first night interception was performed on the night of 13-14 August 1940 by Capitano[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], when he located and opened fire on a British [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] bomber that had been sent to attack [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

When his guns jammed, Graffer rammed the bomber before bailing out.

The bomber had been badly damaged and subsequently crashed into the English Channel whilst attempting to return to its base.

One of the most successful night interceptions took place on the night of 25 August 1942.

That day, in an attempt to oppose RAF night intruding missions that were hammering Italian airfields, the 4° Stormo borrowed four radio-equipped CR.42s, by 208ª and 238ª Squadriglie of the 101° Gruppo Bombardamento a Tuffo,
based at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], to use them as night interceptors.

Corpo Aereo Italiano


On 11 and 23 November 1940, CR.42s flew two raids against Great Britain as part of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

German Luftwaffe aircraft had difficulty flying in formation with the slower biplanes.

Even though slower, with an open [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], no radio, and armed with only two machine guns
(a 12.7 mm/.5 in and a 7.7 mm/.303 in Breda-SAFAT), the Falcos could easily out-turn the Hurricanes and the Spitfires and proved difficult to hit.

"The CR 42 turned to fight using all the aeroplane's manoeuvrability. The pilot could get on my tail in a single turn,
so tightly was he able to pull round."

As the RAF intelligence report stated, the Falcos were hard targets.

"As I fired he half rolled very tightly and I was completely unable to hold him, so rapid were his manoeuvres.

I attacked two or three more and fired short bursts, in each case the enemy aircraft half-rolled very tightly and easily and completely out-turned me.

In two cases as they came out of their rolls, they were able to turn in almost on my tail and opened fire on me."

Against British monoplanes, the CR.42s were not always outclassed.

"I engaged one of the British fighters from a range of between 40 to 50 metres [130–165 feet].

Then I saw a Spitfire, which was chasing another CR.42, and I got in a shot at a range of 150 metres [500 feet].

I realised that in a manoeuvered flight, the CR.42 could win or survive against Hurricanes and Spitfires, though we had to be careful of a sweep from behind.

In my opinion, the English .303 bullet was not very effective.

Italian aircraft received many hits which did no material damage and one pilot even found that his parachute pack had stopped a bullet."

During the winter, the CR.42s were transferred back to the Mediterranean theater.

East Africa


It was in Africa Orientale Italiana (A.O.I) that the nimble Italian biplane performed better.

It was flying the Falco that [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] became the top biplane fighter ace of World War 2 (with 16 kills) and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] became the second and third Fiat CR. 42 top scoring aces, with 12 and 8 air victories.

Moreover, during that short and difficult campaign, the Fiat fighters destroyed a large number of Royal Air Force and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] aircraft, both in the air and on the ground, including a number of Hurricanes.

In 1940, three squadriglie stationed in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] -- in n[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] -- were equipped with CR.42s.

The 412ª - the most experienced squadriglia - was based in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (with the 414ª Squadriglia) and in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The 413ª Squadriglia was in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. Fighting there began in June and lasted until the autumn of 1941.

The Italians met mostly British bombers and reconnaissance aircraft, destroying many of them.

On 12 June 1940, 412ª Squadriglia attacked nine [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] bombers from 47 Squadron above [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and Tenente Carlo Canella claimed the first CR.42 victory in East Africa, a Wellesley that was heavily damaged and forced
to crash-land.

Two days later, the 412ª Squadriglia again intercepted a pair of Wellesleys, this time from 14 Squadron, that were trying to bomb Massawa.

Tenente Mario Visintini, for the first of his 16 air victories in East Africa, shot down the Wellesley flown by Pilot Officer Plunkett.

Dogfights usually occurred when enemy airfields were being attacked. Fierce air battles took place at the beginning
of November 1940, during the British offensive against the Italian forts [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], along the Sudan border.

The Regia Aeronautica was dominant in these fights, sometimes even against more powerful opponents.

Losses were also suffered in the air duels in 1940, at least six Fiats were destroyed and about a dozen damaged.

North Africa


At the beginning of the war in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], there were 127 CR.42 from the 13° Gruppo (2° Stormo) at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and from the 10° and 9° Gruppo of 4° Stormo in Benina, including reserve aircraft. Initially, the Falco was
pitted against the contemporary Gloster Gladiator and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of the South African Air Force.

The experienced Italian pilots, most of them veterans of the Spanish Civil War, employed the exceptional manoeuvrability of the CR.42 to "force the Hurricane pilots to adopt the tactic that Messerschmitt pilots had used against them: to avoid dogfights and to attack them with sudden dives."

It was "in Africa that this Italian machine performed best".