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Description
Macchi C.202 Folgore 374-6 of the 374° Squadriglia, 153° Gruppo Autonomo, 51° Stormo, Regia Aeronautica, Mediterrean field of operations, sometime during 1942-1943.

The Macchi C.202 Folgore (Thunderbolt) of 1940 was a development of the Macchi C.200 Saetta (Arrow) of 1937. The latter, the C.200, was an easy to fly, stable and relatively faultless fighter and fighter-bomber aircraft, which nevertheless was beginning to become outdated at the beginning of the Second World War, just because it lacked in performance because of its weak Fiat A.74 radial engine, itself a redesign of the American Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp.

The C.202 was an attempt at curing this: it mated the wings, tailplane and landing gear of the C.200 with a newly designed fuselage, itself designed around the German Daimler-Benz DB-601 engine, the same engine used on the Messerschmitt Bf 109E. The result was a higly capable fighter, which immediately was ordered into production.

In service, the C.202 proved itself a highly capable aircraft, albeit with some faults which affected its combat-effectiveness. The main faults among these were the radio units, which were unreliable, often forcing pilots to communicate with one another with hand gestures and wing wagging; the Breda-SAFAT 12.7-mm machine guns, which had a low rate of fire and were prone to jamming; the limited amount of ammunition the aircraft could carry with it; and most damning, the lack of armament: most C.202s carrying only two machine guns in the nose.

Despite all this, the C.202 proved itself a highly capable dogfighter: by 1942, the C.202 outnumbered all other fighter types in Italian service, and nearly all of Italy's aces during World War II flew the type. However, it took Macchi four to five times longer to build a C.202 than it took Messerschmitt to build a Bf 109 (22.000 manhours vs. 4000-6000 manhours), and attrition claimed a lot of C.202s: by the Italian Armastice of September 1943, only 186 Folgores remained, of which 100 airworthy. Also, by September of 1942, the C.202 was progressively replaced by Macchi's C.205 Veltro (Greyhound), an improved version of the C.202 powered by the Daimler-Benz DB605, and uparmed with a cannon armament.

Other than the Italian air forces (the Regia Aeronautica, or air force of Fascist Italy prior to the September 1943 Armastice; and the Nazi-alligned Aeronautica Nazionale Reppublicana and Allied-alligned Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana following the Armastice), the Folgore was also used in small numbers by the Nazi-alligned "Independent State of Croatia" (22), and the German Luftwaffe (12). Following the introduction of the C.205, a number of C.202s were re-engined with Daimler-Benz DB605 engines, and flown as Macchi C.202/205 conversions, a number of which were sold to the Royal Egyptian Air Force after the end of the War.

1/72 Italeri 1222
Inventory number 694 - purchased September 19th 2008
Fifteenth model completed in 2016

Description
Macchi C.202 Folgore 374-6 of the 374° Squadriglia, 153° Gruppo Autonomo, 51° Stormo, Regia Aeronautica, Mediterrean field of operations, sometime during 1942-1943.

The Macchi C.202 Folgore (Thunderbolt) of 1940 was a development of the Macchi C.200 Saetta (Arrow) of 1937. The latter, the C.200, was an easy to fly, stable and relatively faultless fighter and fighter-bomber aircraft, which nevertheless was beginning to become outdated at the beginning of the Second World War, just because it lacked in performance because of its weak Fiat A.74 radial engine, itself a redesign of the American Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp.

The C.202 was an attempt at curing this: it mated the wings, tailplane and landing gear of the C.200 with a newly designed fuselage, itself designed around the German Daimler-Benz DB-601 engine, the same engine used on the Messerschmitt Bf 109E. The result was a higly capable fighter, which immediately was ordered into production.

In service, the C.202 proved itself a highly capable aircraft, albeit with some faults which affected its combat-effectiveness. The main faults among these were the radio units, which were unreliable, often forcing pilots to communicate with one another with hand gestures and wing wagging; the Breda-SAFAT 12.7-mm machine guns, which had a low rate of fire and were prone to jamming; the limited amount of ammunition the aircraft could carry with it; and most damning, the lack of armament: most C.202s carrying only two machine guns in the nose.

Despite all this, the C.202 proved itself a highly capable dogfighter: by 1942, the C.202 outnumbered all other fighter types in Italian service, and nearly all of Italy's aces during World War II flew the type. However, it took Macchi four to five times longer to build a C.202 than it took Messerschmitt to build a Bf 109 (22.000 manhours vs. 4000-6000 manhours), and attrition claimed a lot of C.202s: by the Italian Armastice of September 1943, only 186 Folgores remained, of which 100 airworthy. Also, by September of 1942, the C.202 was progressively replaced by Macchi's C.205 Veltro (Greyhound), an improved version of the C.202 powered by the Daimler-Benz DB605, and uparmed with a cannon armament.

Other than the Italian air forces (the Regia Aeronautica, or air force of Fascist Italy prior to the September 1943 Armastice; and the Nazi-alligned Aeronautica Nazionale Reppublicana and Allied-alligned Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana following the Armastice), the Folgore was also used in small numbers by the Nazi-alligned "Independent State of Croatia" (22), and the German Luftwaffe (12). Following the introduction of the C.205, a number of C.202s were re-engined with Daimler-Benz DB605 engines, and flown as Macchi C.202/205 conversions, a number of which were sold to the Royal Egyptian Air Force after the end of the War.

1/72 Italeri 1222
Inventory number 694 - purchased September 19th 2008
Fifteenth model completed in 2016