Macchi MC.202 Folgore

The fuselage housed the main armament and the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] R.A. 1000 RC41I or RC44I "Monsone" engine which drove a Piaggio P1001 three-blade, variable-pitch, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Situated behind the engine and under the 12.7 mm (.5 in) ammunition boxes there was a 270 L (71.3 US gal) [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Another 80 L (21.1 US gal) fuel tank was placed behind the pilot, with two additional tanks, each with a capacity of 40 L (10.5 US gal), being housed in the wing roots; the total fuel capacity was 430 L (113.6 US gal) .

The main coolant radiator was housed in a rectangular fairing under the fuselage beneath the cockpit, and the oil cooler was placed under the nose within a streamlined, rectangular housing.

From the cockpit aft, the fuselage was formed into a round monocoque structure; the aft fuselage tapered into the tail and contained the radio, oxygen and flight control mechanisms.

The canopy was hinged on the starboard base and opened sideways.

Behind the canopy the pilot's headrest was fixed to a triangular turn-over pylon which was covered by a streamlined, tapered fairing.

This fairing was shaped into an inverted 'T' which enabled the pilot to have a reasonable field of view to the rear.

While early C.202s had a very short "stub" radio mast projecting from the fairing, most used a tall, slim mast.

The unpressurised cockpit had an armour plate fitted behind the armoured seat for protection.

Operational history


Operational beginning


The Folgore was put into production using imported DB 601Aa engines, while [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] set up production of the engine under license as the R.A.1000 R.C.41 Monsone (Monsoon).

Due to initial delays in engine production, Macchi resorted to completing some C.202 airframes as C.200s with Fiat radial engines.

Nevertheless, by late 1942, Folgores outnumbered all other fighter aircraft in the RA.

Deliveries of the first production aircraft, C.202 Series I, to a specially formed conversion unit, 1º Stormo C.T., in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] began in summer 1941 and, by November, the C.202s made first appeared on the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] front.

In addition to North Africa, the aircraft saw limited service on the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] where between 1941 and 1943, together with C.200s, they achieved an 88 to 15 victory/loss ratio.

Following the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], C.202s were used as trainers in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (Repubblica Sociale Italiana, or RSI).

After the war, two examples served as trainers in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] until 1947.

The C.202 inherited its predecessor's durability and light, responsive flight controls.

The clean aerodynamics offered by the inline engine permitted dive speeds high enough for pilots to encounter the then-unknown phenomenon of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

"The Macchi C.202 was considered superior to both the Hurricane and the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Kittyhawks it fought against, at first on the Libyan front, and the equal of the Mk V Spitfire.

The C.202 was able to out-turn all three although the Spitfire had a superior rate of climb."

Although the C.202 could effectively fly against [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], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and even the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] at low altitudes, the aircraft's combat effectiveness was somewhat hampered by its weak armament.

Siege of Malta


Macchi C.202s equipped all the premier fighter wings (Stormo): 1°, 4° and 51°. Although deployed in mid-1941, the C.202 did not see action until later that fall, when several Macchis fought against British Hurricanes during the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

From its initial combat missions, the C.202 proved superior to the Hawker Hurricane, which formed the Island's main form of aerial defence at that time.

But the presence of the "Folgores" in Maltese skies was to last only until the end of November, when most of the unit was transferred to the deteriorating North Africa front.

The 4° Stormo returned to Sicily in April 1942, for a couple of weeks, before continuing its transfer to Campoformido.

In the meantime the 16° Gruppo had started to re-equip with the C.202s at the end of 1941.

The Macchis of 51° Stormo and 23° Gruppo (3° Stormo) arrived in May 1942.

During this time the Axis had to give up the planned invasion of Malta (Operation C 3), aircraft and men being necessary elsewhere.

But at the end of June about 60 C.202 could be mustered in Sicily to operate against Malta, which had started to receive the formidable Spitfire V, and in quite considerable quantities.

The Macchi often encountered Spitfires, with losses on both sides.

Even if the Macchi could out-turn the Supermarine fighter, the "Folgores" suffered from the lack of a more powerful armament and, without radios, the Regia Aeronautica pilots were forced to communicate by waggling their wings and, consequently, had to adopt too tight and less effective formations.

They also suffered due to the lack of radar, which the RAF used sucessfuly to vector their fighters.

North Africa


On 26 November 1941, during[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], 19 Macchis of 9° Gruppo, 4° Stormo were sent to Africa, in response to the British offensive.

But there were dangers all around in the desert war. [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] incursions behind the lines, led by men like 'Paddy Maine' were aimed at destroying the aircraft.

In the night of 28 December 1941, Macchi 202s of 1° Stormo were based at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

They were transferred from Italy one month before and recently relocated from El Merduma because this airbase was too exposed to SAS attacks but this did not help them.

1° Stormo had 60 fighters, his 17° Gruppo around 30.

In a month of combat this latter lost eight fighters.

That night Mayne and his three comrades destroyed nine others, causing a great loss to Italians and decimating this fighter's group (the other, 6°, had only one MC.202 damaged).

Italians posed much hope in these brand-new fighters but after this attack were forced to move them further back, well away from the front lines to avoid more losses.

During 1942, Bf 109F/Gs and Macchi C.202s fought Allied air forces in the skies of North Africa. At the time of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s offensive on Tobruk, 5° "Squadra aerea" ("Aviation Corps"), based in North Africa, had three Macchi wings:

1° Stormo had 47 C.202s (40 serviceable),
2° Stormo had 63 C.200s (52)
while 4° Stormo had 57(47).

This, coupled with the 32 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], was one of the most powerful fighter forces that the Italians fielded in the war, and comprised almost a tenth of the overall Folgore production.

In the meanwhile, some Macchi fighters were sent to the USSR to supplement the obsolete C.200s.

Others were used during the attacks on Malta obtaining an initial advantage (together with Bf 109s) over the Hurricanes based there.

On 7 March 1942 the carrier[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] delivered the first Spitfires to Malta, and the Axis' air-superiority started to shift in favour of the Allies.

C.202s were also involved in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], clashing with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

In addition to the C. 202s there was also a single Gruppo (2° Gruppo Aut) of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the Macchi's former rival which, despite flying before the C.202, became fully operational almost one year later and was produced in far smaller numbers.

At the end of the year, the growing strength of the Allied forces was irresistible and after the defeat in the skies over Malta as well as [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] the last operational Axis units lost their air superiority in the Mediterranean.

The Germans and the Italians succeeded in establishing a bridgehead in Tunisia, and later in December the Regia Aeronautica transferred four fighter squadrons there.

The 5a Squadra Aerea, which had left Libya and retreated to the Tunisian regions, had previously repatriated all aircraft unsuitable for further action to Italy.

On 21 February 1943, the 5a Squadra Aerea still had, in the northern sector, the 6° Gruppo C.T. with three squadrons of MC.202s at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and in the southern sector, 3° Stormo with six squadrons of MC.200s and MC.202s at El Hamma.

"Although these forces were quite insufficient they nevertheless achieved quite notable successes.

The Macchis continued fighting while retreating to Tunisia and then in the defence of Sicily, Sardinia and Italy
against an increasingly stronger opponent.

The Macchis of two groups which landed at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] airfield from Italy experienced one notable action.

Forced to concentrate 40 C.202s (both 7imo and 16imo, 54° Stormo) on a Tunisian airfield, on 8 May 1943, almost all the C.202s were destroyed on the ground by marauding Spitfires.

A contemporary photo showed over a dozen Macchi C.202s in an abandoned airfield, damaged beyond repair by air attacks or dismantled to support the last few operating fighters.

Because no transport aircraft were available every surviving fighter taking off the next day had two men inside, a pilot and a mechanic.

Only a few aircraft (five of 7mo and six of 16mo) were repaired by 10 May 1943 and retreated to Italy.

At least one, manned by Lieutenant Lombardo, was destroyed and the two men inside were wounded after crash-landing on a beach near [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Eastern Front operations


In July 1942 the 22° Gruppo Caccia reached the operational limit and was replaced by the newly formed 21° Gruppo composed of 356ma, 382ma, 361ma and 386ma Squadriglia, equipped with "fresh" Macchi C.200 and new C.202 fighters.

In August 1942, at the beginning of the Soviet offensive they were deployed at the Stalino, Lugansk, Kantemirovka and Millerovo airfields, fighting against the Red Army positions on the east Don river during October-November 1942. the fighters operated in adverse climate conditions (40° to 45° below zero and heavy snow storms) while under heavy Russian fighter-bomber harassment.

Under these circumstances C.202s were forced to escort C.200s alongside Fiat BR.20Ms and Caproni Ca.311s in attacks against Soviet columns, while facing great numbers of new V-Vs fighters.

The C.202s also escorted CANT Z.1007bis in reconnaissance missions.

After the abandonment of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] between December 1942-January 1943 at Woroscilovgrad, Stalino and Tscerkow, the Italian air units operated in defensive actions against a more potent Soviet air offensive, mainly using
Ilyushin IL-2s "Shturmoviks" and Petlyakov Pe-2s.

In March 1943, the Corpo Aereo Italiano was detached to Odessa airbase joining Re. 2000 Heja I of the Hungarian MKHL 1 and 2/1 Vadaszszazad and IAR 80C and Bf 109E/G of Romanian FARR 4 and 5 detached at same base and Saki (Crimea) in a holding action against the V-Vs armada of 2,000 aircraft, at a time when Axis air forces only countered with 300 operative aircraft with very small quantities of fuel, munitions and equipment.

The last effective operation of Corpo Aereo Italiano in Russia occurred on 17 January 1943, when one mixed formation of 25 surviving Macchi fighters
(out of a remaining total of 30 C.200s and nine C.202s)
attacked Red Army armored and motorized infantry colummns to support German and Italian units encircled in Millerovo.

Sicilian and Italian campaigns


The rest of the C.202s fought to defend Sicily, Sardinia and Naples.

Results against the huge Allied bombers and fighter-bomber wings were poor, 20 mm guns were needed to cause enough damage (even putting in service old D.520s), so Bf 109F/Gs, C.205s and G.55s replaced C.202s as soon as possible; many times they served with MC.205s in the same units (as with 51° Stormo, Sardinia).

Perhaps the worst day was 5 July 1943; this was a day on which Allied air forces pounded Sicily in order to weak the Axis's resistance, prior to the invasion.

At the Armistice, there were only 186 Folgores, only 100 still servicable.

Several C.202s also served with the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and some were transformed into C.205s or
C.202/205 with the Veltro's engine.

Others served as trainers in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (National Republican Air Force) of the Italian
Social Republic (RSI) and the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (German Air Force). Switzerland ordered 20 C.202s, but none were delivered, because at that time (12 May 1943),
Italy no longer had the capability to export these types of aircraft.

However, 12 C.202s and probably another 12 were delivered to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for operational use against the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] over Croatia in mid-1944, all ex-LW fighters.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}