(Fiat) BR.20 Cicogna @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • Fiat BR.20M of the 242a Squadriglia (99° Gruppo, 43° Stormo) Fiat BR.20M of the 242a Squadriglia (99° Gruppo, 43° Stormo)
    Fiat BR.20M of the 242a Squadriglia (99° Gruppo, 43° Stormo)
  • Fiat BR.20 side view (1938) Fiat BR.20 side view (1938)
    Fiat BR.20 side view (1938)
  • Benito Mussolini inspecting a new Fiat BR.20 Benito Mussolini inspecting a new Fiat BR.20
    Benito Mussolini inspecting a new Fiat BR.20
  • One of the two Fiat BR.20A racers prepared for the Istres-Damascus-Paris race (1937) One of the two Fiat BR.20A racers prepared for the Istres-Damascus-Paris race (1937)
    One of the two Fiat BR.20A racers prepared for the Istres-Damascus-Paris race (1937)
  • Fiat BR.20 bombers in flight Fiat BR.20 bombers in flight
    Fiat BR.20 bombers in flight
  • Fiat BR.20 "23-23" in Spanish Nationalist colours, with a Fiat CR.32 in the foreground Fiat BR.20 "23-23" in Spanish Nationalist colours, with a Fiat CR.32 in the foreground
    Fiat BR.20 "23-23" in Spanish Nationalist colours, with a Fiat CR.32 in the foreground
  • Fiat BR.20 "23-26" of the Aviazione Legionaria in Spain Fiat BR.20 "23-26" of the Aviazione Legionaria in Spain
    Fiat BR.20 "23-26" of the Aviazione Legionaria in Spain
  • Fiat BR.20M No. 6 of 31° Gruppo, 18° Stormo BT, Catania (Sicily), June 1941 Fiat BR.20M No. 6 of 31° Gruppo, 18° Stormo BT, Catania (Sicily), June 1941
    Fiat BR.20M No. 6 of 31° Gruppo, 18° Stormo BT, Catania (Sicily), June 1941
  • An early Fiat BR.20 An early Fiat BR.20
    An early Fiat BR.20
  • Fiat BR.20 in flight, seen from the rear (pre-war) Fiat BR.20 in flight, seen from the rear (pre-war)
    Fiat BR.20 in flight, seen from the rear (pre-war)
  • Fiat BR.20 3-view drawing Fiat BR.20 3-view drawing
    Fiat BR.20 3-view drawing
  • Fiat BR.20 model in Spanish markings at the Museo del Aire, Madrid Fiat BR.20 model in Spanish markings at the Museo del Aire, Madrid
    Fiat BR.20 model in Spanish markings at the Museo del Aire, Madrid
  • Celestino Rosatelli, designer of the BR.20 Celestino Rosatelli, designer of the BR.20
    Celestino Rosatelli, designer of the BR.20

Fiat BR.20 Cicogna

The Fiat BR.20 Cicogna ("Stork") was a low-wing twin-engine medium bomber developed and manufactured by the Italian company Fiat Aviazione. It was the first all-metal Italian bomber to enter service and, at the time of its introduction in 1936, was regarded as one of the most modern medium bombers in the world. It received its baptism of fire with the Aviazione Legionaria during the Spanish Civil War, was built for and used by Japan against China, and was the standard medium bomber of the Regia Aeronautica when Italy entered the Second World War in June 1940. By then, however, the type was already approaching obsolescence, and from 1942 it was mostly used for maritime patrol and the operational training of bomber crews. More than 500 BR.20s were built.

Design and development

In 1934, the Regia Aeronautica asked Italian manufacturers for a new medium bomber able to reach 330 km/h at 4,500 m and 385 km/h at 5,000 m, with a range of 1,000 km and a bomb load of 1,200 kg. Piaggio, Macchi, Breda, Caproni and Fiat answered; most proposals exceeded the speed requirement but not the range, and not all of them offered satisfactory handling or reliability.

Fiat's design team, led by Celestino Rosatelli, set out to design a fast bomber of simple, rugged and light construction. The design broke with Rosatelli's earlier aircraft and borrowed elements of Fiat's APR.2 prototype airliner. It was accepted by the Regia Aeronautica together with the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 and the CANT Z.1007, and received the prefix BR, for "Bombardiere Rosatelli".

Development was rapid. The design was finalised in 1935 and, on 10 February 1936, the prototype (M.M.274) made its maiden flight from Turin in the hands of Fiat test pilot Rolandi, before being transferred to Guidonia for an accelerated evaluation programme. Production orders followed quickly and deliveries to the 13° Stormo Bombardamento Terrestre began in September 1936. In June 1937, three aircraft were sent to Benghazi and Tripoli for trials in tropical conditions. Production aircraft differed from the prototype mainly in the details of the nose, fuselage and tail.

Although the BR.20 won the 1934 competition, it was overshadowed by the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero, developed at the same time and made famous by its air-race successes. On paper the two aircraft were very close (about 430 km/h, 1,250 to 1,600 kg of bombs, 800 to 1,000 km of range, three or four machine guns and almost no armour), but the three-engined Sparviero had a reserve of power, more reliable engines, could return to base on two engines and was agile enough to be used as a torpedo bomber, a role never considered for the Cicogna. More than 1,200 SM.79s were built, at least twice as many as BR.20s.

Modern when it appeared, the BR.20 was quickly overtaken by the rapid progress of aviation; lacking improved versions, it was underpowered and poorly defended by 1940. The improved BR.20M, in service before Italy entered the war, had a new and more extensively glazed nose for the bomb-aimer and a slightly longer fuselage; part of the fabric covering was replaced by metal skin, which improved resistance to flutter and engine vibration but reduced the top speed from 430 to 410 km/h. The last production variant, the BR.20bis, was a major redesign with a fully glazed nose, retractable tailwheel, a more streamlined fuselage, pointed fins, two 1,250 hp Fiat A.82 RC.42 engines, waist gun blisters and a Breda Type V dorsal turret. Production was delayed by technical problems and by the Regia Aeronautica's preference for the CANT Z.1018: of 98 aircraft ordered, only 15 were built between March and July 1943, Allied bombing of the Turin factory preventing further production. There is no evidence that they were used operationally.

Experimental versions included the BR.20C gunship with a 37 mm cannon in the nose, an aircraft fitted with a tricycle undercarriage, and another modified to guide radio-controlled explosive-laden aircraft, which was never used in combat. Including the aircraft sold to Japan, at least 233 standard BR.20s were built, plus 264 to 279 BR.20Ms from February 1940.

Design

The BR.20 was a twin-engine, low-wing cantilever monoplane intended for medium-range bombing. Its maximum speed exceeded 400 km/h and its cruising speed of 320 km/h made it as fast as the best of its foreign contemporaries, such as the Tupolev SB, while its range and payload were favourable for the period.

It was powered by two Fiat A.80 RC.41 18-cylinder radial engines rated at 1,000 hp at 4,100 m, driving three-bladed Fiat-Hamilton variable-pitch metal propellers. Six self-sealing fuel tanks in the centre fuselage and inner wings held 3,622 litres of fuel. Fully loaded, the bomber had an endurance of 5½ hours at 350 km/h and 5,000 m; take-off and landing distances were 350 and 380 m and the theoretical ceiling 7,600 m.

Defensive armament initially consisted of a Breda model H nose turret with a single 7.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine gun and a semi-retractable Breda DR dorsal turret with one or two 7.7 mm guns, the gunner normally looking out from a small cupola and extending the turret when needed. It was successively replaced by a Fiat M.I turret with a 12.7 mm Breda gun, then by an unreliable Caproni-Lanciani Delta turret with a 12.7 mm Scotti gun, and finally by a more streamlined Breda R turret with a 12.7 mm Breda gun, which needed no retraction mechanism. A 7.7 mm gun was also fitted in a ventral clamshell hatch.

All bombs were carried horizontally in an internal bay isolated from the rest of the aircraft by an aluminium sheet, which improved bombing accuracy. Typical loads were 2 × 800 kg, 2 × 500 kg, 4 × 250 kg, 4 × 160 kg or 12 bombs of 100 kg or less, mixed loads, or four dispensers holding up to 720 small HE or incendiary bomblets. No torpedo armament was ever adopted.

The structure was mixed: the slab-sided fuselage was built of welded steel tubes, with duralumin skinning on the forward and centre sections and fabric covering at the rear. The 74 m² wing, built in three sections, had two spars and 50 duralumin ribs, metal skinning and fabric-covered control surfaces; its low wing loading gave short take-off and landing runs. The main undercarriage retracted hydraulically into the engine nacelles. The twin tail gave the dorsal gunner a good field of fire. The crew of four or five comprised two pilots side by side, a navigator/bomb-aimer in the nose (with bombsights and a vertical camera), a radio operator who also served as ventral gunner, and a dorsal gunner.

Operational history

Pre-war and records

When the 13° Stormo at Lonate Pozzolo was equipped with the Cicogna at the end of 1936, it was probably the most modern bomber unit in the world, and the aircraft soon became a showcase of Italian engineering for the regime's propaganda. In 1937, two stripped BR.20A racers, with a rounded civil-style nose, no turrets and 7,700 litres of fuel (6,200 km range), finished sixth and seventh in the Istres–Damascus race won by an SM.79. In 1939, the long-range BR.20L "Santo Francesco", commanded by Maner Lualdi, flew non-stop from Rome to Addis Ababa at an average speed of 391 km/h; it was also used to test a new Microtecnica autopilot.

Spanish Civil War

In June 1937, six new BR.20s were sent to Tablada, near Seville, for the Aviazione Legionaria supporting Franco's Nationalists. From 15 November 1937, the unit flew daily missions against Republican targets, usually without fighter escort, over Teruel and the Ebro among others; from July 1938, the excellent A.G.R.61 camera also made it valuable for photo-reconnaissance. Flying at about 4,000 m, the BR.20s were fast enough to escape the Polikarpov I-15 and I-16. Seven more aircraft arrived in July 1938. Losses were very low: nine of the 13 aircraft sent to Spain survived and were handed over to the Spanish Ejército del Aire. Spain nevertheless received at least 99 SM.79s, which remained the main Italian bomber of the conflict.

Japan

When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in July 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service lacked modern long-range bombers while waiting for the Mitsubishi Ki-21. Italy offered the Caproni Ca.135 and the BR.20; only the Fiat met the Japanese requirements, and 72 aircraft, followed by a further 10, were ordered at the end of 1937. Shipped to Dalian from early 1938, the BR.20s, designated I-Type (Yi-shiki), replaced the Mitsubishi Ki-1 in the 12th and 98th Sentai in Manchuria. They flew long-range missions against Chinese cities in the winter of 1938–39, without escort and at the limit of their range, and suffered heavy losses, as did the early Ki-21s. The Japanese criticised their range, armament and supposedly fabric-covered wings, although the wing was in fact metal-skinned. After the Battle of Khalkhin Gol (1939), they were progressively replaced by the Ki-21, but still received the Allied reporting name "Ruth".

Second World War: France and Britain

When Italy declared war on France and the United Kingdom on 10 June 1940, 172 Cicognas were in service with four wings, the 7°, 13°, 18° and 43° Stormo, all based in Northern Italy, against fourteen wings equipped with SM.79s. During the brief campaign against France, they bombed the Toulon dockyard and the Hyères and Fayence airfields, as well as the Alpine forts of Briançon and Traversette, and flew reconnaissance missions; one BR.20M was shot down over Provence by Dewoitine D.520s. Five aircraft were lost and 19 airmen killed.

On 10 September 1940, the Corpo Aereo Italiano was formed to take part in the Battle of Britain, with the 13° and 43° Stormi equipped with 80 new BR.20Ms based in Belgium, notably at Melsbroek and Chièvres. The ferry flight was costly: five aircraft crash-landed and 17 others had to land en route. The first raid, against Harwich on the night of 24 October, cost three aircraft to accidents; on 29 October, 15 aircraft bombed Ramsgate in daylight without loss. On 11 November, ten BR.20s escorted by Fiat CR.42s on a daylight raid against Harwich were intercepted by Hurricanes: three bombers and three fighters were shot down without British loss, one BR.20 crashing in Tangham Forest near Woodbridge, Suffolk. Winston Churchill remarked that the Italians might have been better employed defending their fleet at Taranto, attacked that same day. Night raids on Ipswich and Harwich continued until January 1941 without loss, before both wings returned to Italy. Over twelve days of operations, the Cicognas dropped 54 tonnes of bombs; three aircraft were lost to enemy action, 17 to other causes, and 15 airmen were killed.

North Africa, Malta and the Eastern Front

In March 1941, 14 aircraft of the 98° Gruppo arrived in Tripolitania to replace the SM.81 as night bombers, attacking Tobruk and British supply lines; the 13° Stormo continued night raids from July 1941 to April 1942, losing 15 aircraft, many to sand-related mechanical problems. BR.20s also opposed Operation Torch in late 1942. From May 1941, BR.20 units based in Sicily (Gerbini, Fontanarossa, Castelvetrano) raided Malta almost nightly, also laying mines and flying anti-submarine patrols; in 16 months, 41 Cicognas were shot down or lost in accidents, and the type briefly returned over Malta in 1943. A few BR.20s also served on the Eastern Front from August 1942 in support of the Italian army on the Don, flying lone night sorties with incendiary bomblets, before being withdrawn in April 1943.

Balkans, maritime patrol and final years

BR.20s were heavily used against Greece from bases in Italy and Albania from October 1940, often meeting strong RAF opposition, and then against Yugoslavia in April 1941 (131 aircraft in four groups), later against Tito's partisans and to supply isolated Italian units. With their vulnerability now evident, they were replaced in most front-line units by the CANT Z.1007 and Savoia-Marchetti SM.84. From 1941 they also escorted Mediterranean convoys, with bombs and possibly depth charges but no special equipment; between 9 August and 11 September 1941 the 98° Gruppo escorted 172 ships between Italy and Libya, although no submarine was sunk.

At the armistice of September 1943, 67 to 81 BR.20s were still with operational units, mainly in anti-partisan operations, while most had been relegated to training or transport. A few were used by the Italian Social Republic, and only one by the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, for communications. The last BR.20 was retired on 7 June 1946.

Variants

  • BR.20 : Initial production model, 233 built.
  • BR.20A : Two BR.20s demilitarised for air racing (Istres–Damascus 1937).
  • BR.20L : Long-range civil version, one built ("Santo Francesco", Rome–Addis Ababa 1939).
  • BR.20M : Improved bomber with lengthened nose and partly metal-skinned structure, 264 to 279 built.
  • BR.20C : Single aircraft converted by Agusta with a 37 mm cannon in a revised nose.
  • BR.20bis : Major redesign with two Fiat A.82 RC.42 engines of 1,250 hp, larger dimensions, fully glazed nose and two additional 12.7 mm waist guns. Only 15 built.
  • I-Type (Yi-shiki) : Designation of the 82 or so aircraft delivered to the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (Allied code name "Ruth").

Operators

  • Italy :
    • Regia Aeronautica.
    • Aviazione Legionaria (Spain).
    • Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana.
    • Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force (one aircraft).
  • Japan : Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (12th and 98th Sentai).
  • Spain : Ejército del Aire (nine ex-Aviazione Legionaria aircraft).
  • China : Republic of China Air Force (one captured aircraft, 1939).
  • Venezuela : Venezuelan Air Force (one aircraft).

Surviving aircraft

No complete BR.20 survives. The wreck of a BR.20 lies at a depth of about 47 m off Santo Stefano al Mare, between Imperia and Sanremo (Liguria), and is visited by divers. A scale model of the BR.20 is on display at the Museo del Aire at Cuatro Vientos (Madrid).

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Fiat BR.20 Cicogna of Wikipedia ( authors )

Fiat BR.20 Cicogna

  • Role : Medium bomber.
  • Manufacturer : Fiat Aviazione.
  • Designer : Celestino Rosatelli.
  • First flight : 10 February 1936.
  • Introduction : 1936.
  • Retired : 1946.
  • Status : retired.
  • Primary users :
    • Regia Aeronautica.
    • Imperial Japanese Army Air Service.
    • Spanish Air Force (Ejército del Aire).
  • Produced : 1936 to 1943.
  • Number built : over 500 (233 BR.20, 264 to 279 BR.20M, 15 BR.20bis).
  • Developed from : Fiat APR.2.
  • Variants :
    • Fiat BR.20M.
    • Fiat BR.20bis.

    Specifications (BR.20M)

  • Crew: 5.
  • Length: 54 ft 9 in (16.68 m).
  • Wingspan: 70 ft 9 in (21.56 m).
  • Height: 15 ft 7 in (4.75 m).
  • Wing area: 800 sq ft (74 m²).
  • Empty weight: 14,330 lb (6,500 kg).
  • Max takeoff weight: 22,267 lb (10,100 kg).
  • Powerplant: 2 × Fiat A.80 RC.41 18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines.
  • Power: 1,000 hp (746 kW) each.
  • Propellers: 3-bladed Fiat-Hamilton variable-pitch.
  • Maximum speed: 270 mph (440 km/h, 240 kts).
  • Cruise speed: 210 mph (340 km/h, 180 kts).
  • Range: 1,710 mi (2,750 km, 1,480 nmi).
  • Service ceiling: 26,000 ft (8,000 m).
  • Guns: 3 × 12.7 mm (.5 in) Breda-SAFAT machine guns.
  • Bombs: 3,500 lb (1,600 kg).

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Fiat BR.20 Cicogna of Wikipedia ( authors )
Fiat BR.20 Cicogna : Your comments on this subject
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