Fiat G 50 Freccia, G 55 Centauro
Italian WW2 fighter

Fiat G 50 Freccia, G 50bis, G 50ter, G55 Centauro
Type: Italian WW2 fighter Fiat.
History: In 1935 the issue of a specification for an all-metal monoplane fighter for the Regia Aeronautica attracted at least six competing designs. Though the Macchi 200 was ultimately to become dominant, the initial winner was the Fiat G 50, the first major design by Ing Giuseppe Gabrielli (hence the designation).
Its flight trials went smoothly, an order was placed in September 1937 for 45 and deliveries began early in 1938.
About a dozen of the first production G 50s were sent to reinforce the Aviazione Legionaria in Spain, where their good qualities of speed and manoeuvrability were manifest.

Fiat G 50 of the Regia Aeronautica in the Western Desert.

On the other hand pilots disliked having a sliding cockpit canopy, which was not easy to open quickly and interfered with vision, and in the next production batch of 200 an open cockpit was adopted. The poor armament was not changed, but fairings for the retracted wheels were added.

Italian Fiat G 50 fighter together wit a German Messerschmitt Bf 110.

Production from the CMASA plant at Marina di Pisa got under way in 1939, with deliveries replacing the CR 32 in Regia Aeronautica fighter squadrons (not always to the pilots' delight), and a further 35 being flown to Finland in 1940 where they gave admirable service against Russia.
The main production version was the G 50bis, with reprofiled fuselage giving improved pilot view, armour and self-sealing tanks. About 450 were built mainly by CMASA.

Other versions included the tandem-seat G 50B trainer, of which 139 were built; the G 50ter with more powerful engine; and prototypes of the G50bis-A with four 12.7mm guns and racks for two bombs, and of the German DB 601A-powered G.50V, which led to the Fiat G 55 Centauro.

Fiat G 55 Centauro fighter of Mussolini's Italian Social Republic in the spring of 1945 in northern Italy. In the period January 1944 to April 1945, the RSI Air Force succeeded in shooting down 240 Allied aircraft, mostly B-17 and B-24 bombers.

Only 105 of the strong Fiat G 55 Centauro were built until the end of WW2.

Users: Italy, Finland, Spain.

Italian G 50 Freccia is taxiing on an airfield in North Africa.

3d model G 50 Freccia

A G 50 with running propeller.