Re[2]: Alfa engines in aircraft

[Richard Welty <rwelty@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 15:12:58 -0700 (PDT) Cuadra <cuadra@domain.elided> wrote:

> I believe Alfa produced Daimler-Benz engines under license for such
> fighters as the Macchi Veltro and Reggiane Sagitario.  These planes were
> few in number and out-gunned by their Allied counterparts, but generally
> praised for their outstanding handling & maneuverability.

i checked in my _Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft_ which is
about 95% of an excellent reference.

there were two waves of effective Italian fighters. the early ones got
Daimler Benz DB 601 A engines; the second wave ("Series V") got DB 605 A
engines. there is no mention of whether the motors came from Daimler or
were license built, but the Macchi M.C. 205 Veltro and the Fiat G.55
Centauro (both Series V) were definitely highly regarded, capable of
competing on roughly equal terms with the best Allied fighters. The
Reggiane Re.2005 Sagitario had significant potential, but also had an
engineering defect which caused it to be grounded in August 1943, after
only 29 were built. the stress of the war prevented the defect from
being repaired, so the Sagitario will always be a might-have-been. the
Macchi and the Fiat came late enough in the war that the Italian aircraft
industry wasn't in a position to provide the volume production needed to
make them major players in the air war.

richard
--
Richard Welty                                         rwelty@domain.elided
Averill Park Networking                                         518-573-7592
    Java, PHP, PostgreSQL, Unix, Linux, IP Network Engineering, Security
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