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#Post#: 15184--------------------------------------------------
Plane of the Week: Fiat G.50 Freccia
By: vonofterdingen Date: January 5, 2021, 4:38 pm
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The Fiat G.50 is one of those aircraft that appears
throughout most every European theater from the Spanish Civil
War until the early stages of the war on the Western Front. Like
many planes that fought in the early war, or even the Spanish
Civil war, time and obsolescence caught up with it by the end of
1941, except for those planes exported to Finland, where they
were active well into 1944. We see G.50s in IL-2 mostly in
Western Desert campaigns, and Winter War/Continuation War
scenarios. Though highly maneuverable, it was under-powered and
under-gunned by most contemporary standards.
From Wikipedia
The Fiat G.50 Freccia ("Arrow") was a World War II Italian
fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by aviation company
Fiat. Upon entering service, the type became Italy’s first
single-seat, all-metal monoplane that had an enclosed cockpit
and retractable undercarriage.[4] On 26 February 1937, the G.50
conducted its maiden flight. During early 1938, the Freccias
served in the Regia Aeronautica (the Italian Air Force) and with
its expeditionary arm, the Aviazione Legionaria, in Spain, where
they proved to be relatively fast and very manoeuvrable in
comparison to its adversaries in the theatre.
Early in the Second World War, it was determined that the
G.50 possessed inadequate armament, comprising a pair of
Breda-SAFAT 12.7-mm machine guns. The fighter was extensively
used on various fronts by Italy, including in Northern Europe,
North Africa, the Balkans, and the Italian mainland. The G.50
commonly came up against the British Hawker Hurricane, which was
fast enough to frequently outrun and out-range the Italian
opponent. Later models of the fighter had improvements,
including a substantial increase in range.
The G.50 was exported to several overseas customers, small
numbers being flown by the Croatian Air Force while 35 G.50
fighters were shipped to Finland, where they served with
distinction during both the Winter War of 1939-1940 and the
Continuation War of 1941–1944 against the Soviet Union. In
Finnish service, the type reportedly achieved an unprecedented
kill/loss ratio of 33/1.
During 1938, the first operational Fiat G.50 fighters were
delivered to the Regia Aeronautica. During the Spanish Civil
War, about a dozen G.50s were dispatched to Spain to reinforce
the Aviazione Legionaria, Italy's contribution to the conflict.
The first of these were delivered to the theatre during January
1939. The value of its presence in the Spanish theatre is
questionable as none of the fighters sent saw actual combat. At
the civil war's end, the G.50s in the region were handed over to
Spanish pilots and subsequently saw action in Morocco. Cattaneo
summarised of the experience: "Little seems to have been learnt
as nothing was done to increase the armament".
Upon the G.50's entry to service, it was widely regarded as
being an extremely manoeuvrable aircraft and was often
considered to be one of Italy's best fighters. However, by the
time of the outbreak of the Second World War, rapid advancements
in the field of aviation had contributed to the type being
considered to be both underpowered and underarmed in comparison
to competing frontline fighters then in use by the main powers.
In spite of this, in the buildup to the Second World War,
further units of the Regia Aeronautica were equipped with newly
delivered G.50s; these were heavily used in various exercises
and war-games from November 1939 onwards as it became
increasingly clear that Italy would likely soon be at war with
the Western democracies.
Upon Italy's entry into the Second World War in June 1940,
the Regia Aeronautica possessed a total of 118 G.50s that were
available for operations; of these, 97 aircraft were available
to perform front line duties while others were either in
maintenance or awaiting delivery.[24] The majority of these were
assigned to 51° Stormo, (group) which was based at Ciampino
Airport (just outside Rome) and at Pontedera, with 22° Gruppo
(wing) of 52° Stormo. On 10 June 1940, when Italy issued its
declaration of war against both France and Great Britain, the
G.50s of 22° Gruppo went into action, followed by the 48
aircraft of 20° Gruppo. Operations during the first few days
were sporadic and varied, often serving as escorts for
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers on attack missions against
harbours and airfields on the island of Corsica. These
operations were quickly brought to an end when France signed the
Armistice of 22 June 1940, officially capitulating to the Axis
powers.
During September 1940, the 20° Gruppo (351/352/353
Squadrons), commanded by Maggiore Bonzano and equipped with Fiat
G.50, was part of 56° Stormo, formed to operate during the
Battle of Britain as part of the Corpo Aereo Italiano (Italian
Air Corps, CAI) based in Belgium, together with the 18° Gruppo
flying Fiat CR.42s. According to Cattaneo, the Italian
government had decided to participate in the German air
offensive against the British mainland due to political
opportunism and in pursuit of prestige; he alleged that the Air
Staff would have rather directed those aircraft towards other
fronts where they would have stood a better chance of making a
meaningful contribution.
In this theatre, the G.50 was normally hampered by its
relatively slow speed, open cockpits and short range. Cattaneo
also noted that the presence of poor weather conditions and the
use of relatively unprepared personnel were additional factors
that undermined the fighter's effectiveness. Those G.50s that
were deployed were early models and thus furnished with an open
canopy, which was useful in a typical Mediterranean climate but
led to the pilots suffer heavily in the colder weather of
northern Europe. The aircraft was also under-equipped, provided
with a mediocre radio set (powered by batteries that were prone
to freeze at altitude) and lacking any armour protection.
The experiences of the early G.50s over Britain soon showed
their inadequacies in combat. Their operations were considered
to be next to useless during the campaign, in part because they
were too short-ranged and stationed too far from enemy
territory. The G.50 possessed relatively limited endurance, thus
missions rarely exceeded one hour. The G.50 bis, which was
equipped with larger fuel tanks, was already in production, but
it was not sent to 20° Gruppo in time to participate. Its
performance was also lacking: during one incident on 5 November
1940, a formation of 22 G.50s intercepted several British Hawker
Hurricanes, resulting in the RAF fighters escaping with ease. On
21 November 1940, when a Bristol Blenheim attacked the airfield
at Maldegem, Belgium, a pair of G.50s were scrambled, but they
lost the bomber in the clouds. On 23 November, several G.50s
followed a flight of four Hurricanes, but were unable to close
on them. On 31 January 1941, another fruitless interception
occurred when a number of G.50s were evaded by a single Blenheim
that escaped into the clouds.
At the beginning of 1941, the CAI were redeployed back to
Italy, leaving behind a pair of G.50 squadrons that stayed in
Belgium alongside Luftflotte 2 until April 1941. Overall, the
G.50s flew a total of 429 missions, 34 escorts and 26 scrambles
for the CAI, but failed to engage any enemy aircraft during
these actions. A single aeroplane was lost and seven more were
damaged during the deployment. While operating with Luftflotte
2, 20° Gruppo lost four additional fighters and two pilots were
killed. A pair of G.50s were recorded as having been damaged by
friendly fire from German fighters and flak.
In Belgium, 20° Gruppo had the opportunity to see the German
Messerschmitt Bf 109 in action; several G.50 pilots are known to
have been trained to fly the type as well. Around the same time,
a pair of Bf 109E pilots were attached to the Gruppo in
mid-January 1941.[32] On 8 April 1941, the last sighting of
enemy aircraft by the G.50 occurred, during which the targets,
identified as fighters, eluded them yet again.
On 27 December 1940, the first 27 G.50s, belonging to 150ª
and 152ª Squadriglia, 2° Gruppo Autonomo C.T., arrived in Libya,
where they operated out of Brindisi and Grottaglie airfields. On
9 January 1941, these fighters performed their first combat
mission in the theatre when Capitano Pilota (Flight Lieutenant)
Tullio De Prato, commander of 150ª Squadriglia, was attacked by
a Hawker Hurricane Mk I on the front line, forcing him to
crash-land in the desert. On 31 January 1941, a new
G.50-equipped unit, 155° Gruppo Autonomo C.T., consisting of
351ª, 360ª and 378ª Squadrons, commanded by Maggiore Luigi
Bianchi, arrived in Libya. Caught up in the chaotic retreat of
the Italian Army during the winter of 1940–41, however, the
G.50s saw relatively little actual action.
One of the few initial claims of enemy aircraft being downed
by Freccia pilots occurred on 9 April 1941, when Tenente Pilota
Carlo Cugnasca (an expert pilot, and the first to deliver a G.50
to Finland), attacked a flight of three British Hurricane Mk Is
from No. 73 Squadron and claimed to have downed one, although
this loss was not confirmed. On his return, he was forced to
crash-land his G.50, flipping the aircraft over on the airstrip
but remaining unharmed.
At low level, the aerial clashes were often confused and had
unpredictable effects. Tactical surprise was often a decisive
factor in a given engagement, as shown on 14 April when a
formation of 66 Axis aircraft, including eight G.50s from 351ª
Squadriglia, attacked British forces stationed in the vicinity
of Tobruk. The RAF defenders of No. 73 Squadron were outnumbered
in this engagement, resulting in the Hurricanes, which were only
marginally faster than the G.50, having to ignore the Axis
fighters and concentrate their efforts upon attacking incoming
bombers, which posed the greatest threat. Flying their G.50s,
both Cugnasca and Marinelli attacked H.G. Webster's Hurricane
while he was shooting at a Stuka dive bomber, resulting in
Webster being finally shot down and killed over Tobruk. A
Canadian pilot, ace Flight Lieutenant James Duncan ‘Smudger’
Smith (P2652), saw the engagement and subsequently shot down and
killed both Cugnasca and Marinelli as well as damaging another
G.50 before being shot down himself by the 351ª Squadriglia
commander, Capitano Angelo Fanello.
On 27 May, 20° Gruppo was reinforced by 151ª Squadriglia,
which was equipped with the new Fiat G.50 bis.[citation needed]
This new version had almost two hours of flight endurance, due
to the addition of an extra fuel tank in the internal fuselage
section (which had been originally configured as a bomb bay).
The normal tactic with the G.50 was to dive from 1,500 m (4,900
ft), but they never flew very high over North Africa, usually
not exceeding 4,500 m (14,800 ft). The aircraft still lacked
radio sets and, despite their air filters, the desert sand could
reduce the engine's lifespan to only 70–80 hours.
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Although the G.50s were mainly outperformed by Desert Air
Force fighters, their pilots sometimes managed to shoot down the
faster and better-armed Hurricanes and P-40s. In the hands of
expert pilots, the G.50 was even capable of scoring multiple
kills during a single sortie. For instance, on the evening of 9
July 1941, Sergente Maggiore Aldo Buvoli of 378ª Squadriglia,
155° Gruppo Autonomo, took off from Castel Benito airfield to
patrol Tripoli harbour and intercepted a flight of seven
Blenheim light bombers, which had been engaged in a low-level
attack on the ships. Two Fiat CR.42 biplanes from 151° Gruppo
were already pursuing the Blenheims when Buvoli attacked,
shooting at each bomber in sequence. One Blenheim ditched in the
sea while another was shot down a few miles north of Tripoli.
Two more failed to return to Luqa airfield in Malta and were
posted as missing. For these successes, Buvoli was awarded the
Silver Medal of Military Valor and subsequently credited with
four kills. No. 110 Squadron reported the loss of a similar
number of Blenheim IVs on its first mission since arriving in
Malta from the British mainland during early July.
During the Battle of Sidi Barrani, the first major British
offensive of the Western Desert Campaign, a number of G.50s
operating out of Martuba Airbase, Derna District, attacked the
British-held airfield at Sidi Barrani. On 18 November 1941,
during Operation Crusader, the Desert Air Force was responsible
for destroying 13 aircraft on the Ain el Gazala airfields, 10 of
these being G.50s. On 19 November 20° Gruppo, based at Sid el
Rezegh, suffered heavy losses when British armoured forces
suddenly attacked the airfield. Of the 19 G.50s, only three
escaped, with 80 pilots and ground crew taken prisoner.
Altogether, 26 G.50s were lost and 20 Gruppo was left with only
36 G.50s, of which 27 were serviceable. Mario Bonzano, now a
Tenente Colonnello and commander of 20° Gruppo, was among the
captured, and his deputy, Furio Niclot Doglio, was almost shot
down, since he was unaware of the British operation. Several
G.50s were captured almost intact, and at least one was taken by
No. 260 Squadron and later passed to No. 272 Squadron.
After 1941, the G.50 played only a minor role in the Regia
Aeronautica. During June 1942, British intelligence estimated
that 12 Gruppo had a total of 26 G.50s (10 of these being of a
serviceable condition), while the backbone of 5a Squadra Aerea
was estimated to have comprised a mixture of 104 C.202s, 63
C.200s, 32 Z.1007 and 31 S.79s.
The G.50 saw its longest and most successful service in the
two Finnish wars against the Soviet Union, the Winter War of
1939–1940 and the Continuation War of 1941–1944. At the end of
1939, before the outbreak of hostilities, Finland ordered 35
Fiat G.50s. The first 10 aircraft were to be delivered before
February 1940. A group of Finnish pilots attended a 10-hour
training course at Guidonia airport and later at Fiat Aviazione
in Turin. On a training flight, during a dive from 3,500 m
(11,500 ft), Lieutenant Tapani Harmaja reached an estimated
speed of 780 km/h (480 mph), which was considered excessive for
the structural integrity of the aircraft. The windscreen was
damaged.
Germany hindered the transit of the aircraft, so they were
dismantled and embarked in La Spezia on the Norwegian ship
Braga, which set sail for Turku, Finland, on 20 January. Because
of this delay, the first G.50s did not reach No. 26 Squadron,
Finnish Air Force (HLeLv 26) at Utti until February 1940.[54]
The G.50s were numbered from FA-1 to FA-35, but it seems that
only 33 were delivered. Squadron No 26 received from material
command G.50 fighters according to the table below. A day before
the truce after the Winter War, they had received 30 Fiat G.50s
of the 35 purchased and 33 not damaged during the procurement.
Fiat G.50 FA-8 was destroyed during take-off when the pilot,
a Hungarian volunteer, second lieutenant Wilhelm Bekasy, in bad
flying weather, lost contact with his countryman, lieutenant
Matias Pirity, who turned back. The next day sergeant Asser
Wallenius took-off with FA-7, having forgotten to switch on the
fuel pump of the main tank and as the extra fuel tanks emptied,
FA-7 crashed and was damaged. Wallenius survived but he was
injured. Because of technical problems in the Finnish airforce
itself, only 33 of the 35 Fiat G.50s were delivered to Finland.
The Italian fighters had arrived too late to affect the
course of that year's winter battles, however, most of them were
soon sent to the front. The Fiat pilots found themselves
involved in the heavy fighting over the bay of Vyborg in late
February and early March. According to some sources, the first
kill was achieved on 26 February.[citation needed] The following
day, Second Lieutenant Malmivuo became the first Finnish pilot
to be killed in a G.50, when his fighter FA-12 crashed after a
battle with Soviet aircraft.[55] And on 11 March, the Italian
volunteer Sergente Dario Manzocchi crashed to his death while
returning from a combat sortie.[53] The Fiat bases were under
constant attack. The Utti airfield was bombed by the Soviet
airforce. Consequently, the Fiats were transferred two
kilometres to the northwest of Utti proper, onto the ice at
Haukkajärvi (Falcon lake). As Haukkajärvi became bombed and
attacked by fighters, another lake-side base was established
near the city of Lahti, Hollola, also on the ice of Vesijärvi
near Pyhäniemi manor. Overall, HLeLv 26 achieved 11 kills,
against one loss in combat and another in an accident.
The Finnish G.50 y were taken from the 235 built by CMASA,
both Serie I and Serie II, but all but seven had the open
cockpit of the Serie II, a feature that Finnish pilots disliked,
especially in winter. There were some attempts to improve the
aircraft – one was tested with an enclosed cockpit, another with
a D.XXI ski-undercarriage – but none of the modifications were
put into service. Better protection for the propeller, which had
problems at extremely low temperatures, and a few other changes
were introduced. The speed of the Finnish G.50s was around
430–450 km/h (270–280 mph), much lower than the standard series
could achieve. At this stage, Finnish pilots preferred the
Hawker Hurricane, the French Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 and the
Brewster F2A Buffalo to the G.50.
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In game…
This is a plane I love to fly. It will figure prominently in
any campaign you pick up involving North Africa (Western Desert
or Somalia) or Winter War/Continuation War. I like the way it
handles mostly. It feels very light and nimble in flight. Though
the Wikipedia article repeatedly mentions that it is
under-powered, I do not recall feeling that way in game. I do
notice the lack of armament however. Even by the late 1930s, the
WW1-era of two machine guns makes dogfighting very difficult. It
is very difficult to bring down a Hawker Hurricane or a Curtis
P-40 with two machine guns.
#Post#: 15185--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Fiat G.50 Freccia
By: larsresult Date: January 5, 2021, 5:14 pm
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In real life the MC200 was the better fighter, a faster dive and
wider all round view, and tighter turn. However, in game it is a
more potent fighter, although limited by its guns as Von states.
Fun to fly.
#Post#: 15189--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Fiat G.50 Freccia
By: vonofterdingen Date: January 5, 2021, 10:41 pm
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Like most Italian planes they both looked very cool too. That
open cockpit might have been inviting in the MTO, but it makes
me feel cold just thinking of being in one in Finland.
#Post#: 15191--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Fiat G.50 Freccia
By: robyfongaro Date: January 6, 2021, 3:27 am
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[quote author=larsresult link=topic=2122.msg15185#msg15185
date=1609888457]
In real life the MC200 was the better fighter, a faster dive and
wider all round view, and tighter turn. However, in game it is a
more potent fighter, although limited by its guns as Von states.
Fun to fly.
[/quote]
There's one thing i never liked about Macchi's fighters:
Asymmetrical wings, which do counter torque, but lead to
unfavourable stall carachteristics and issues with spin
recovery, as M.A.H. explained
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO2rAxUX4aE
[quote author=vonofterdingen link=topic=2122.msg15189#msg15189
date=1609908066]
Like most Italian planes they both looked very cool too. That
open cockpit might have been inviting in the MTO, but it makes
me feel cold just thinking of being in one in Finland.
[/quote]
Indeed. Actually both the Saetta and the Freccia started with
closed cockpits, but due to the poor transparency of the glass
and difficulties to jettison it, the decision was made to go
back to open cockpits. Kinda like what happened to the I-16,
where the first variants had closed cockpits, but the pilots
feared that the sliding part might not work in a critical
situation and they always flew with the open canopy and later
variants had open cockpits.
#Post#: 15198--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Fiat G.50 Freccia
By: cafs Date: January 6, 2021, 7:12 am
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Another great POW, Von.
For the ""under-powered" part, it affects much more the
time-to-height and initial/sustained vertical speed. The Fiat
A.74, 870hp, engine was a very good engine, but lack the hp to
cope with the heavy weights of modern fighters. It will be great
with a light weight fighter, like any early war Japanese light
built fighters, but fell short in a western european plane.
The lack of "horses" is the culprit for the meagre amount of
firepower, much like the same for, e.g., IJAAF's Ki-43 Hayabusa,
"Oscar".
#Post#: 15616--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Fiat G.50 Freccia
By: RKal109 Date: January 24, 2021, 3:54 pm
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I find the G.50 useful against the Hurricane and the I-16. It's
too slow to catch more modern fighters, and its armament too
weak to bring down anything tougher than a Blenheim.
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