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But to comment on Ghostdancer's post, Italy definitely had no good fighters at the outbreak of war. They had good ones at the end but couldn't produce them in significant numbers. They did have some good three-engined bombers at the outbreak of war though.
Kris
No man, I came back a couple of weeks ago. I had a blast!Good summary Kris, I fully agree.
PS: you were temp working in Italy, are you still there?
I love those 5 series but when I think about it, they were about a year behind ... which is still a step forward to the C.200 and C.202 which were even more behind. I think the 5 series were comparable to the following aircraft: Spitfire IX, Bf 109G, Yak-9, Fw 190A and P-38F, all aircraft which were around in 1942.the Series 5 machines were among the very best fighters in the world at the time. Perhaps only the lates Spitfire variant was superior.
BUT! the Bf 109G was from 1942. And that's my point.
Kris
? It was still the DB 605A from 1942 till 1944..... but the DB605 installed in the 'series 5' was the 1942 version... and that's my point: in case of full scale production the G55 would have been fitted with the most recent 605s
Perhaps that's a bit exaggerated. The Re.2005 was designed and flew around the same time as the G.55 so was definitely not in its infancy.the Reggiane 2005 was also in the infancy (tail structural problems to be ironed out, similar to the early Bf109F) and would have required time before being ready for mass production.
The Bf 109G-6/R6 was a sufficient bomber destroyer. The gun gondolas giving a reduction in speed of - what was it again Kurfürst? - 8 km/h? And one should look beyond this, only half of the fighters were used against the bomber fleets and even then they had to fight the escort fighters as much as the bombers. So in most cases the standard armament of the Bf 109 sufficed, especially once they had the MK 108.On the possible 'replacement' of LW fighters I disagree instead: the G55 could have been a kind of BF109 with more punch (firepower was the main problem of the 109F and G, only partially solved with the K)
and MAYBE would have made not necessary the development of the Dora.
I agree on the Jabo bit. But as a low altitude fighter or as a bomber destroyer it didn't have advantages over the Bf 109 or G.55.The combination of high performances as fighter at low-mid altitude plus the versatility as Jabo, bomber destroyer etc. of the 190A could not have been matched by a G55 as they were not matched by the 109.
Cool!Btw: I was in Reggio Emilia for a meeting yesterday, so here is a picture of the 'Officine REGGIANE' as they can be seen today from the railway station...
?
Glider, I also have accounts which say that the Bf 109G was still controllable (though barely) at all speeds. I suppose it depends on who's telling the story...
Kris
Kris
I was reading in a book about the Macchi 205V and it said that was the best Italian fighter of WWII.
It was so good, that the Luftwaffe formed one gruppe of these fighters.
I am curious what the gruppe's name was, where did they serve and what was their success rate?
Bf109/R6 (Gondolas): by reading the reports, impression is that it was not only the 8 kmh in speed but mostly the worsening of flight behavior due to 300kg added to the wings.
G55 and 190A had already this extra-weight in the standard configuration used for evaluation.
Fw190A : with standard armament of 4x20mm + 2x12,7 (A7&A8) or 4x20+2x7,9 (A4,5,6) it had about 3 times the firepower of standard Bf109, it seems logically arguable that it was more effective as bomber destroyer.
I think its worth mentioning that the G55 operated in some units with the 109G's and K's but the pilots preferred the G55.
The main advantage being the G55 handled better at high speeds plus the better weapons.
No one is denying that the 109g's and K's had a higher top speed, but the controls were heavy above 350mph and close to impossible at much over 400mph. The G55 was still easy to handle at these speeds.