Fiat G.55 "Centauro" to fly again soon....

[Ioshic]

Hello everyone,
I would like to point to a very cool news I discovered days ago.
Probably some of you already know it.

There are, and have been, very few air-worthy italian ww2 warbirds after the war's end.
Scarsity of airplanes, fear of crashes, lack of funds and a general disinterest in Italy for everything that was "in the war"
has killed many projects and ideas.

Today, beautiful and excellent machines as the Macchi C.202 and C.205 and Fiat G.55, S.M.79 and others are sitting
in Museums taking tons of dust...

Until a few years ago.
An American collector bought a Fiat G.59 in Italy, which was used as a Gate-Gurdian, and decided to modify it, and make it
a Fiat G.55 "Centauro", one of the best fighters of the war, made in 1942.
Differences are minimal. The 59 had the Merlin, the 55 had the Daimler Benz DB605A. Plans are to recover a 605 and install it in a new
modified structure.
Works are being made in Germany and in Italy , at Volandia, where a new engine canopy will be built for the 605.

I really can't wait to see finally a Regia Aeronautica fighter take the air again at Air Shows. Hopefully with Regia Aeronautica markings
instead of the ANR one.
It would truly be a revolution in this aspect. To see once again one of those great fighters flying again would be a dream come true.

I only wish it was a Macchi C.202 (not a great G.55 lover...), but it's still a great news.

More to read HERE.


Up until now, the only flying Regia Aeronautica fighter was a Macchi C.205 "Veltro", which used to fly with its original DB605 in the 80's.
It was modified by the AerMacchi factory back then, but a small incident and the company decided to ground it unfortunately.
This was it. It's still stored inside the AerMacchi factory.

Cheers

 

[tomo pauk]

Really cool. G.55 is a timeless beauty, few others can parralel it.

 

[vikingBerserker]

I agree, this is awesome news.

 

[Lucky13]

Fantastic!

 

[Thorlifter]

That is wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

 

[GregP]

I'll jump in and add my thanks. Great news. I wish there could be an airworthy MC.2002 / 205 and an Re.2005, which is my personal favorite from an aesthetic viewpoint.

Now if only you Italians would put the SAI Super Seven into production! The Falco would finally have a serious rival.

 

[Ioshic]

I'll jump in and add my thisnk. Great news. I wish there could be an airworthy MC.2002 / 205 and an Re.2005, which is my personal favorite from an aesthetic viewpoint.

Now if only you Italians would put the SAI Super Seven into production! The Falco would finally have a serious rival.

Agree! The SAI S.7 was an amazingly beautiful and graceful plane.
I'm always stunned by its elegant lines whenever I take a visit to the Air Force Museum in Vigna di Valle. (which happens quite often I must say, living not too far from there)
Such a cool little plane.

And...tt looks like we'll also see another RA fighter in the skies, the Falco.

I'm just amazed by the fact that somehow they found a running Fiat A.74RC38 engine...

 

[Aozora]

Thanks for bringing us all the Italian news Ioshic. Great news about the G.55 and CR 42! 8)

 

[GregP]

Here's an Re 2005 I threw together from a cutaway I found on the internet. I did the cleanup and coloring, but not the artwork ... so it only took a couple of hours.

 

[Ioshic]

Nice one Greg. Beautiful plane, the 2005.

 

[GregP]

Thanks! I wish I could draw cutaways like that myself!

I'm working on an MC.202 right now (line drawing). Getting the rivets in the right place is very time-consuming.

I would LOVE to find a good drawing of the Super Seven ... but it seems to be a bit of obscure history. good looking, though ...

 

[Elmas]

SAI Ambrosini 7, Aerei militari, Schede tecniche aerei militari italiani e storia degli aviatori

Push on "Scheda tecnica" to find the drawings. Not the best, maybe.....

 

[GregP]

Thanks! It gives me a good place to start!

The drawing is of the S.7, but I believe the Super 7 was mostly an engine and propeller change.

 

[Aozora]

From:

 

[GregP]

I'll take the last one any day of the week ... as long as she doesn't stay for longer than a week. We could study body painting and make her a bit more colorful ... naaahhh ... finger painting.

 

[Elmas]

Archivio storico-tecnico ? S.7 Project

Some more info.....

 

[GregP]

Hi Elmas,

First, thank you for the info.

I don't read Italian. So ... are they returning an S.7 to flight status? That would be nice.

Or is this an old magazine article?

 

[Elmas]

The last is a site entirely devoted to the S 7 family.
I don't think that an S 7 could be restored to a flyng condition, the wooden structure do resist to age much less than aluminium, let's think to woodworms....
By my personal point of view, with modern materials, expecially glues, it could be easier to build one from scratch.....

 

[GregP]

Hi Elmas,

This as as far as I got with my MC.202. I cannot seem to find detailed shots of the MC.202 that are of sufficient quality to show rivet lines and I decline to just throw rivets in wherever they might logically be. Ah well, maybe in the future.

If you know of any shots or even other drawings that show rivet placement, it would be appreciated. I just noticed I forgot to put the pitot tube in the side view ... at least that is easy to correct.

Edit: Fixed it as well as the slight misalignment of the prop in the side view. Maybe someone can delete the one below?

 

[Elmas]

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aircraft-pictures/vigna-di-valle-museum-33299.html

In 2012 I went to Vigna di Valle, Italian Air Force Museum, I could easily have taken all the photos necessary for your very nice drawings.....but I have to say that rivets in the Italian fighters are mostly flush, and not easily seen on the skin.
The aircrafts that I have seen with the worst rivets are the Russian ones.....
Wich program do you use to make your drawings, if I can ask?