Fiat GThe 55 Sagittarius was a single-engine, single-seat World War II fighter aircraft that entered service with the Royal Italian Air Force and the Air Force of the Italian Republic from 1943 to 1945. It was designed and manufactured by Fiat's factory in Turin. The Fiat G55 is considered one of the most outstanding models of the 5 series of Italian fighters. It is equipped with a Daimler-Benz DB605 engine, which is equipped with a re2005，mc.205 and other Italian fighters. After 8 September 1943, during its brief combat service for the Italian Republic, its sturdy and fast performance proved to be an outstanding high-altitude interceptor. In the Northern Italian Air War, during the last year of the war, it often fought against the British Spitfire, the American Mustang, the P47 and P38 Blitzkrieg, but until the end of the war, only about 300 of this fighter were produced.
R&D: In 1939, all of Italy's major aircraft factories began to design a new series of fighter jets with water-cooled V-engines, as opposed to the star-shaped air-cooled engines used by Italian fighters at the beginning of World War II. This led to the creation of the first generation of fighters equipped with Italian imitation Daimler-Benz DB601 engines, these aircraft were called the 1 2 series, the most famous representative of which was the Macchi MC202 Lightning. However, the birth of these new fighters did not end until 1941. The designers turned their attention to the new DB605 engine. Fiat designer Giuseppe Gabrioli experimenting with Fiat GWhen one of the 50 fighters was equipped with a new model fighter with the DB601 engine, a new idea of equipping the DB605 engine fighter began. The first GThe 55 prototype flew on April 30, 1942, and the pilot was Commander Valentino Kus, GThe 55 immediately showed good maneuverability and fighter characteristics.
g.The nose of the 55 was armed with an MG151 20 20mm cannon with 200 rounds of ammunition and four other 12Of the 7mm Breda-Savart machine guns, two were mounted above the hood and the other two were mounted in a lower position, in the fuselage of the Sottoserie O, with 300 rounds each. Such a layout immediately created problems, and the machine gun, located in the lower part of the hood, had difficulties not only with reloading but also with maintenance, and therefore in gIn the 55 late production series model, unlike the original 1 series, these two machine guns were removed and replaced by MG151 20 20mm cannons equipped on the wings on both sides. This prototype flew to Guidonia, where it was joined by Markey MC., known as one of the 5 series205 and Leah ReAdversarial tests were conducted in 2005. In the trial g55 Performances won the first place in the competition, and it won the tender of the Royal Italian Air Force. Markey MCAlthough the 205 has a slight advantage in speed and handling at low and medium altitudes, its performance declines rapidly above 8,000 meters, especially in handling. re.2005 was the fastest at high altitude, but was hampered by the fragility of its structure. And gThe 55 prototype flew at an altitude of 7,000 m and at full load, reaching a speed of 620 km/h, which was slower than expected, but made up for it with its sturdy construction, outstanding handling and stability at any altitude. g.The only negative assessment of the 55 pilots was that there was a yaw to the left during takeoff. This phenomenon can be counteracted by a slight adjustment of the horizontal rudder to counteract the torque of the engine.
Manufacture: In early 1943, Allied raids and bombardments over the skies showed that Italy had no suitable high-altitude fighters to compete with. Markey MCThe combat altitude of the 202 series did not reach the general flight altitude of the bomber 8000 meters, and the mc202 equipped with two 12The 7mm machine gun was extremely weak for American bombers. However, as the g. of the 5 series fighters55, due to its large wingspan area, its high-altitude combat capabilities are excellent. Likewise, its firepower is strong, and its ammunition is plentiful (gThe 55 nose gun had 250 rounds of 20mm shells, and the reOnly 120 rounds in 2005), enough to shoot down American bombers. The Royal Italian Air Force issued 1800 G55 orders, which were later increased to 2400 aircraft. A pre-production assignment of 34 samples was issued, and almost all of these aircraft were prototypes, so they had minimal variations in improved performance.
They had different ** layouts, as mentioned earlier, two machine guns in ground positions were moved into the wings. Only 34 of the 19 sample machines were produced, and 6 were modified to the 1 series standard at the factory. The production version was designated the 1 series, and the standard armament was three 20mmMG 151 20 cannons and two 12The 7mm Breda-Safet machine gun has two additional pylons under the wings, each of which can carry a 160kg bomb or a 100L drop tank. September 8, 1943 Italian armistice, all 35 GAll 55 have already been transferred, including three prototypes. Only one of them flew back to southern Italy to join the Italian Allied Air Force. Another G55, numbered mm91150 was acquired by the Allies in the summer of 1944 and its test pilot Serafino Angestini defected with an absconding RAF prisoner of war, with the British captain sitting on the test pilot's lap. This frame gAfter the 55 was taken over by the Royal Air Force, it was sent to the Fighter Test Center in Tangmere, England, on March 17, 1945, with the item number VF204, and was stored in Ford's warehouse, after which it was lost.
Other g55 joined the Air Force of the Italian Republic, which was created by Mussolini, the leader of the fascist regime in Italy, with the help of Germany. Until now, it has not been known exactly how many g. there are55 was taken by the German army or the air force of the Italian Republic. About 18 were requisitioned by the Air Force of the Italian Republic, and another 12 to 20 (but according to some official reports, 42) were acquired by the Luftwaffe. The Fia ** factory in Turin was controlled by the Germans and continued production for 6 months until April 25, 1944, when the plant was severely damaged by bombing (15 G.S55 was destroyed, and there were some three-engine g.s12 transport aircraft, br20 bombers and cr.42 low-altitude attack aircraft, these aircraft were produced at the request of the Luftwaffe), but there were still 164 g55 completed construction, of which 97 were built after the Italian armistice and joined the Air Force of the Italian Republic.
On the recommendation of the German Control Committee, production was dispersed to smaller cities such as Monferrado, and component production was arranged to Cansa in Novara and **IA in Vicelli. The components were eventually assembled at the Turin factory, where they were to be flown by test pilots Valentino Cous, Rolandi, Agstini and Catela. Production progressed very slowly, and in September 1944 German officials stopped production. When the plant was occupied by the Allies, there were a total of 148 G.S55 was handed over to the Air Force of the Italian Republic, and by the time the Allies occupied the plant, more than 37 prototypes had been completed, and 73 G. of various degrees of completion had been completed55 is still on the production line.
To be continued......