I think you're overstating the case for the CR 42. In 1940 the WDAF did very well against the Italian Airforce using a rather small force of Hurricanes. Here"s a quote from Michel Lavigne and James Edwards in "Hurricanes Over the Sands"
"the Hurricane I was then (1940) the best fighter aircraft over the Western dessert. It out classed the Fiat CR 42 flown by the Italian units, which were far superior in numbers and destroyed lots of them for very few losses"
An examination of 33 Squadrons record, as an example of a Hurricane squad that saw a lot of action throughout the dessert campaign, shows these results.
These are post war results cross referenced with Italian records. Just 5 hurricanes lost to CR 42s from Oct 1940 to May of 43. In the same time period 33 Squadron Hurricanes claimed 38 CR 42s. 33 Squadrons post war corroboration rate is over 60% or about 25 confirmed CR 42 kills , giving a K/D rate of 5-1 Hurricanes vs CR 42s. These numbers are from the same source.
Slaterat
Thanks for the information, which I was not aware of. I was aware however that the hurricane had an obvious superior potential to any three of the Italian Fighters. In regards to the CR42, once it was realized the single cardinal rule was never dogfight with them, their days were numbered. CR42s were not armoured, had limited armament, limited top speed, I dont think the dive rate was all that great, often lacked radios.
Moreover, as SR points out, it all gets back to the HP that you could fit into the aircraft. Changes were made to the C200, that eventually led to the C202, which remained effective against the Hurri, whilst somewhat later the G-50 evolved into the G-55. One CR42 was experimentally fitted with a DB601 engine, and achieved a max speed of 323mph....the fastest staright line speed for biplane used for combat.
But whereas both the C200 and the G-50 airframes were seen as having potential with better engines, the CR42 was simply too limited to be worth the effort.
So, in terms of "stretchability" of the airframes, the Hurricane, the C200 and the G-50, are probably on a similar plane, the Cr42 is not.
I also knew amd agree that in terms of loss rates Italian losses generally, but for the CR42 particularly, were substantially higher than for the brits. Over Malta, for example, 330 aircraft (mostly Hurricanes and Spits) were lost in exchange for over 580 Axis aircraft, and this was a TO where other issues made it a difficult place for the Allies to challenge. Comparing loss rates of Sea Hurricanes to Axis aircraft is noty a level playing field, for example. During Pedestal for example, about 70 Allied Fighters on the Carriers (mostly Sea Hurricanes) were asked to fight off more than 600 Axis attackers. Their primary mission was to screen off the bombers, so this will skew the fighter to fighter loss rates