(Fiat) G.55 Centauro @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • Fiat G.55 Centauro Fiat G.55 Centauro
    Fiat G.55 Centauro
  • G.55 in Regia Aeronautica markings (1943) G.55 in Regia Aeronautica markings (1943)
    G.55 in Regia Aeronautica markings (1943)
  • G.55 of the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (1944) G.55 of the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (1944)
    G.55 of the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (1944)
  • Profiles of G.55 Serie I of the ANR 2° Gruppo Caccia Profiles of G.55 Serie I of the ANR 2° Gruppo Caccia
    Profiles of G.55 Serie I of the ANR 2° Gruppo Caccia
  • G.55 3-view drawing G.55 3-view drawing
    G.55 3-view drawing
  • Fiat RA.1050 Tifone engine (licence-built DB 605) Fiat RA.1050 Tifone engine (licence-built DB 605)
    Fiat RA.1050 Tifone engine (licence-built DB 605)
  • Fiat G.56 prototype with DB 603 engine, in German markings (1944) Fiat G.56 prototype with DB 603 engine, in German markings (1944)
    Fiat G.56 prototype with DB 603 engine, in German markings (1944)
  • Post-war Aeronautica Militare G.55As Post-war Aeronautica Militare G.55As
    Post-war Aeronautica Militare G.55As
  • G.55 "Bonet" (rebuilt from a G.59) at the Vigna di Valle museum G.55 "Bonet" (rebuilt from a G.59) at the Vigna di Valle museum
    G.55 "Bonet" (rebuilt from a G.59) at the Vigna di Valle museum
  • Fiat G.59 in 1943 Italian fighter markings (airshow) Fiat G.59 in 1943 Italian fighter markings (airshow)
    Fiat G.59 in 1943 Italian fighter markings (airshow)

Fiat G.55 Centauro

The Fiat G.55 Centauro (Italian for "Centaur") is a single-engine, single-seat monoplane fighter designed by Giuseppe Gabrielli and built by Fiat Aviazione in Turin. Unlike the radial-engined Italian fighters of the early war years, it was powered by an inline engine, the Fiat RA.1050 R.C.58 Tifone, a licence-built copy of the German Daimler-Benz DB 605. Heavily armed with 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon and 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns, robust and fast, it proved to be an excellent high-altitude interceptor.

The prototype first flew on 30 April 1942, but the type only reached front-line units a few weeks before the Armistice of 8 September 1943. Most of its operational career was therefore spent with the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR), the air arm of the Italian Social Republic, defending Northern Italy against Allied bombers and their escorts. In 1944 the Centauro regularly met Spitfires, P-51 Mustangs, P-47 Thunderbolts and P-38 Lightnings, and proved a dangerous opponent. Fewer than 300 were completed during the war (by comparison, Germany built some 35,000 Bf 109s). The G.55 is often regarded as the best Italian fighter of the Second World War, a claim also made for the Macchi C.205 and the Reggiane Re.2005, and after comparative trials in 1943 German officials described it as "the best fighter in the Axis".

Production resumed after the war, and the G.55 was exported to Argentina, Egypt and Syria. Re-engined with a Rolls-Royce Merlin, it gave rise to the Fiat G.59 advanced trainer, which served with the Italian Air Force until the mid-1960s.

Design and development

Background

Throughout the 1930s the Italian authorities favoured radial engines, and the first generation of Italian monoplane fighters, such as the Fiat G.50 and the Macchi C.200, were powered by them. From 1939 the main Italian manufacturers turned to inline engines: the German Daimler-Benz DB 601, imported and then licence-built, powered the "Serie 1/2" fighters such as the Macchi C.202. In 1941 attention shifted to the larger and more powerful DB 605, licence-built by Fiat as the RA.1050 Tifone. The fighters designed around this engine formed the "Serie 5", all with designations ending in "5": the Macchi C.205, the Reggiane Re.2005 and the Fiat G.55. While experimenting with a DB 601-powered version of his G.50, Fiat designer Giuseppe Gabrielli began an entirely new design intended for the DB 605.

The G.55 was an all-metal, low-wing monoplane with fully retractable landing gear and a raised cockpit. Its large wing (21.11 m²) gave it the best high-altitude performance of the three Serie 5 fighters.

Prototypes and trials

The first prototype flew on 30 April 1942 at the hands of Commander Valentino Cus, immediately showing good performance and pleasant handling. It was armed with a single 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon with 200 rounds, mounted between the cylinder banks and firing through the propeller hub. Two more prototypes followed, the second (MM 492) being completed in Regia Aeronautica markings.

At the Guidonia test centre the G.55 was evaluated against the Macchi C.205V Veltro and the Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario. The C.205V was very good at low and medium altitudes but its performance fell away above 8,000 m; the Re.2005 was the fastest at high altitude and the best dogfighter, but suffered from vibration problems and was the most complex to build. The G.55 reached 620 km/h at 7,000 m fully loaded and without emergency power, slightly less than expected, but pilots judged it the best of the three for handling and stability at all altitudes. It came second overall and won the Regia Aeronautica contract, the G.55 and the C.205 being selected for mass production. Pilots noted a strong tendency to yaw to the left on take-off due to engine torque, partly cured by slightly offsetting the vertical stabilizer.

Production

The Regia Aeronautica ordered 1,800 G.55s, a figure later raised to 2,400. A pre-production series of 34 aircraft (Serie 0) was ordered, but only 19 were built, six of which were completed to Serie I standard at the factory. The Serie 0 aircraft added four 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns (two in the upper and two in the lower engine cowling, 300 rounds per gun) to the hub cannon. The lower guns proved difficult to rearm and service, so on the main production version, the Serie I, they were replaced by a 20 mm MG 151/20 in each wing. The Serie I was thus armed with three 20 mm cannon and two 12.7 mm machine guns, and could carry two 160 kg bombs or two 100-litre drop tanks under the wings.

By the Armistice of 8 September 1943 only 35 G.55s of all series, including the three prototypes, had been delivered. Production continued under German control: in all, 164 aircraft were completed, 97 of them after the Armistice.

Operational history

Regia Aeronautica

The third prototype was the first Centauro to see operational use. On 21 March 1943 it was assigned for evaluation to 20° Gruppo, 51° Stormo, at Roma-Ciampino, then followed the unit to Capoterra, near Cagliari, in May. It received its baptism of fire on 5 June 1943 against Allied aircraft attacking Sardinia.

The first two pre-series aircraft flew on 10 April and in May 1943. In early June they were assigned to the 353a Squadriglia at Foligno, which received nine more by August; the first Serie I aircraft went to the Gruppo Complementare of 51° Stormo, also at Foligno. Pilots were delighted with the new fighter. In July the 353a Squadriglia, commanded by Capitano Egeo Pittoni, moved to Roma-Ciampino Sud with 11 G.55s and flew interception missions over Rome until the city was declared an open city. The 351a and 352a Squadriglie left Sardinia on 27 August to convert to the G.55 at Foligno but had not received their aircraft by 8 September, while 12 Centauros were assigned in early September to the 372a Squadriglia of 153° Gruppo at Torino-Mirafiori. After the Armistice only one G.55 flew south to join the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force. A second machine, MM.91150, reached the Allies in the summer of 1944 when test pilot Serafino Agostini defected with an escaped British prisoner of war, an RAF officer, sitting on his knees; it was taken on RAF charge as VF204 in March 1945.

Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana

After the Armistice the Germans took over the Fiat factory in Turin, which continued production for about six months. About 18 G.55s were taken over by the ANR, while between 12 and 20 (perhaps as many as 42) were requisitioned by the Luftwaffe. On 25 April 1944 the Fiat factories were heavily bombed: 15 G.55s were destroyed, together with Fiat G.12 transports, BR.20 bombers and CR.42LW biplanes ordered by the Luftwaffe. Production was then dispersed to small towns in the Monferrato area, with components supplied by CANSA (Novara) and AVIA (Vercelli) and final assembly in Turin, until the Germans halted it in September 1944. In all, 148 G.55s were delivered to the ANR; when the factory was captured, 37 more were ready and 73 were on the line at various stages of completion. A plan to build 500 more aircraft (300 G.55/I and 200 G.55/II armed with five 20 mm cannon) was cancelled.

The first ANR unit to receive the G.55 was the Squadriglia Montefusco, equipped in November 1943, which operated from Piedmont until 29 March 1944. The 2° Gruppo Caccia was formed at Bresso under Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Vizzotto, later Lieutenant Colonel Aldo Alessandrini, with three squadriglie: the 4a "Gigi Tre Osei", the 5a "Diavoli Rossi" and the 6a "Gamba di Ferro". It used some 70 G.55s from December 1943, first around Milan and Varese, then from April 1944 near Parma and Pavia and later around Lake Garda (Brescia and Verona). At the end of May 1944 it handed its Centauros over to the 1° Gruppo, which flew them from June 1944, and converted to 46 ex-Luftwaffe Bf 109G-6s. The 1° Gruppo in turn switched to the Bf 109G in November 1944, a decision resented by many Italian pilots who preferred the G.55. ANR Centauros were mainly used to intercept the American B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers and their escorts.

German interest

In December 1942 a Regia Aeronautica commission was invited to Rechlin to test German aircraft. In return, a German commission led by Oberst Petersen came to Italy in February 1943 with a Fw 190 A-5 and a Bf 109 G-4 for comparison. Tests began at Guidonia on 20 February 1943: the G.55 was rated "excellent", the Re.2005 "excellent" but complicated to build, and the C.205 "average". The written report found the G.55 equal to the German fighters in climb and high-altitude performance and superior in armament and range, though somewhat slower. Petersen telegraphed Göring that the G.55 was "the best fighter in the Axis", and on 22 February 1943 a meeting chaired by Göring voted to build it in Germany.

Further visits to Rechlin and Berlin followed in March and May 1943, Gabrielli and other Fiat engineers touring German factories. The Luftwaffe acquired three G.55/0 airframes (MM 91064 to 91066) for trials and supplied DB 603 engines and production machinery for the Italian DB 605. In October 1943 Kurt Tank, who had flown a G.55 at Rechlin, visited Turin to discuss production. The programme was nevertheless abandoned: an early G.55 required about 15,000 man-hours to build, against an estimated 9,000 and the roughly 5,000 needed for a Bf 109 in German factories. The DB 603 engines were instead earmarked for Tank's Ta 152C, and those already delivered were used for the G.56 prototypes.

The G.55/S torpedo fighter

After the radial-engined G.57 project had been dropped, Fiat adapted the Centauro to carry a 920 kg, 5.46 m long torpedo. On the G.55/S (S for silurante, "torpedo"), the single coolant radiator was replaced by two units under the wing roots to free a 90 cm space for the torpedo crutches, and the tailwheel strut was lengthened. Converted from production aircraft MM.91086, it first flew in August 1944 and was successfully tested in January 1945 by Adriano Mantelli. The ANR ordered a pre-series of 10 and a series of 100 aircraft, but the end of the war stopped the project. The prototype was converted back to Serie I standard and became the first G.55 delivered to the post-war Aeronautica Militare.

The Fiat G.56

The G.56 was essentially a G.55 with a lengthened nose housing the larger Daimler-Benz DB 603A of 1,750 hp (1,300 kW). Two prototypes were built and flight testing began in March 1944; on 30 March Valentino Cus reached 690 to 700 km/h, the official top speed being 685 km/h. Armed with three 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon (one firing through the hub and two in the wings), it performed very well in comparison with the Bf 109G and Fw 190A, but the German authorities did not allow production and all work stopped in September 1944.

Post-war service

As early as 1946 Fiat restarted production using stored airframes and components, in two versions: the single-seat G.55A fighter/advanced trainer and the two-seat G.55B advanced trainer, which flew first on 12 February 1946. The Aeronautica Militare Italiana received 19 G.55As and 10 G.55Bs, and the Argentine Air Force bought 30 G.55As and 15 G.55Bs in 1947-1948. In September 1951, during a failed coup by Argentine Navy and Army units against Juan Perón, G.55s and the only Argentine G.59 of Grupo 2 de Caza attempted to join the rebels at Punta Indio naval air base; their pilots were arrested on arrival and the aircraft immobilised.

Egypt, which wanted operational fighters as tension with Israel mounted, received new-production G.55As from late 1948; with their wing cannon replaced by 12.7 mm machine guns, they equipped No. 5 Squadron of the Royal Egyptian Air Force at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and served until the mid-1950s. Syria received about a dozen G.55As and one G.55B in 1949, diverted from an Italian Air Force batch.

As stocks of licence-built DB 605 engines ran out, Fiat installed the Rolls-Royce Merlin in the airframe, the first conversion flying in early 1948. The Aeronautica Militare converted its G.55s into G.59-1A single-seaters and G.59-1B two-seaters, which entered service with the Lecce flying school in 1950. Syria ordered 30 new-build G.59s (26 G.59-2A and four G.59-2B), Argentina evaluated a single G.59-2A, and the final versions, the G.59-4A and G.59-4B, were fitted with bubble canopies. The G.59 served in Italy until the mid-1960s.

Variants

  • G.55 : Three prototypes.
  • G.55/0 : Pre-production series (Serie 0), armed with one 20 mm cannon and four 12.7 mm machine guns.
  • G.55/I : Main production version (Serie I), armed with three 20 mm cannon and two 12.7 mm machine guns.
  • G.55/II : Bomber interceptor armed with five 20 mm cannon; series production cancelled.
  • G.55/S : Torpedo fighter, one prototype; a pre-series of 10 and a series of 100 aircraft ordered by the ANR were cancelled at the end of the war.
  • G.55A : Post-war single-seat fighter and advanced trainer.
  • G.55B : Post-war two-seat advanced trainer.
  • G.56 : Two prototypes powered by the 1,750 hp DB 603A engine.
  • G.57 : Projected version with a radial engine, not built.
  • G.59 : Post-war development powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin, in single-seat (A) and two-seat (B) versions: G.59-1A and 1B (converted G.55s), G.59-2A and 2B (new production, mostly for Syria), G.59-4A and 4B (new production for Italy, with bubble canopies).

Operators

  • Argentina : Argentine Air Force (Grupo 2 de Caza).
  • Egypt : Royal Egyptian Air Force (No. 5 Squadron).
  • Germany : Luftwaffe (evaluation aircraft and requisitioned G.55s).
  • Italy :
    • Regia Aeronautica.
    • Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana.
    • Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force (one aircraft).
    • Aeronautica Militare Italiana.
  • Syria : Syrian Air Force (G.55A, G.55B and G.59).
  • United Kingdom : Royal Air Force (one captured aircraft, VF204).

Surviving aircraft

No original G.55 survives. The Centauro displayed in ANR markings at the Italian Air Force Museum at Vigna di Valle, on Lake Bracciano, was rebuilt from the G.59-2A MM53265. Several G.59s are preserved, including examples at Vigna di Valle, at the Lonate Pozzolo war memorial (Varese) and at the Museum of Engines and Mechanisms of the University of Palermo; others are airworthy in private hands, notably at Parma and in Germany.

References

  • Arena, Nino. Fiat G55 Centauro - Fiat G59. Modena: Mucchi Editore, 1994.
  • Arena, Nino. I Caccia della Serie 5: Re.2005, MC.205, Fiat G.55. Modena: STEM-Mucchi, 1976.
  • Di Terlizzi, Maurizio. Fiat G.55 Centauro. Rome: IBN Editore, 2001.
  • Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. "Centaur - The Final Fling". Air Enthusiast International, 1974.
  • Nicolle, David. "Arab-Italian Fighters: Fiats and Macchis in Egyptian and Syrian Service 1948-1956". Air Enthusiast No. 55, 1994.
  • Sgarlato, Nico. I caccia della Serie 5. Parma: Delta Editrice, 2009.
  • Vergnano, Piero and Gregory Alegi. Fiat G.55. Ali d'Italia No. 10. Turin: La Bancarella Aeronautica, 1998.

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Fiat G.55 Centauro of Wikipedia ( authors )

Fiat G.55 Centauro

  • Role : Fighter.
  • Manufacturer : Fiat Aviazione.
  • Designer : Giuseppe Gabrielli.
  • First flight : 30 April 1942.
  • Introduction : 1943.
  • Status : retired.
  • Primary users :
    • Regia Aeronautica.
    • Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana.
    • Argentine Air Force.
    • Royal Egyptian Air Force.
  • Produced : 1942 to 1944, then 1946 to 1948.
  • Number built : 274 (wartime) and 75 (postwar).
  • Developed from : Fiat G.50 Freccia.
  • Variants :
    • Fiat G.55/S.
    • Fiat G.56.
    • Fiat G.59.

    Specifications (G.55/I)

  • Crew: one.
  • Length: 30 ft 9 in (9.37 m).
  • Wingspan: 38 ft 11 in (11.85 m).
  • Height: 10 ft 3 in (3.13 m), excluding radio mast.
  • Wing area: 227.2 sq ft (21.11 m²).
  • Airfoil: root: NACA 2415; tip: NACA 2409.
  • Empty weight: 5,798 lb (2,630 kg).
  • Gross weight: 7,760 lb (3,520 kg).
  • Max takeoff weight: 8,197 lb (3,718 kg).
  • Maximum speed: 387 mph (623 km/h, 336 kts).
  • Range: 750 mi (1,200 km, 650 nmi).
  • Ferry range: 1,030 mi (1,650 km, 890 nmi) with two 100 l (22 imp gal) drop tanks.
  • Service ceiling: 41,800 ft (12,750 m).
  • Time to altitude: 6,000 m (20,000 ft) in 5 min 50 s; 7,000 m (23,000 ft) in 8 min 34 s.
  • Wing loading: 32 lb/sq ft (154 kg/m²).
  • Powerplant: One Fiat RA.1050 R.C.58 Tifone inverted V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine (licence-built Daimler-Benz DB 605A-1).
  • Power: 1,455 hp (1,085 kW).
  • Propellers: 3-bladed constant-speed.
  • Armament (Serie I):
    • 3 × 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon (one engine-mounted with 250 rounds, two in the wings with 200 rounds each).
    • 2 × 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns in the upper cowling (300 rounds per gun).
    • 2 × 160 kg (350 lb) bombs or two 100 l drop tanks under the wings.

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Fiat G.55 Centauro of Wikipedia ( authors )
Fiat G.55 Centauro : Your comments on this subject
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    On a smartphone, the lack of space is growing and this menu is moved to the bottom of the page to give priority to videos and pictures.

    The top right icons are links to videos posted by third parties (on their own responsabilities) or by ourselves. The link below these icons will take you to the channel of the one who posted the video. Feel free to suggest other videos if you think they are of some interest (Use the BLOG button or the "Contact" link).