The Ro.43 won over the other contenders like the Piaggio P.18 and P.20, the CMASA MF.10, CANT Z.504 and Macchi C.76.
It was a derivation of the previous IMAM Ro.37 Lince (Lynx) aircraft and was in fact designed by the same designer, Giovanni Galasso. It flew for the first time in 1934 and was built out of steel tubes and wood covered by soft alloy and fabric.
It was a two-seat biplane with folding gull upper and inverse gull lower wings. It was armed with two Breda-SAFAT 7.7mm machine guns, one firing forward and another defensive one firing backwards from the obersver position. It was powered by a single Piaggio P.X.R 9-cylinder engine that yielded a power of 700hp (522 Kw) and was able of achieving a speed of 300km/h (185mph) with more than 1000km of range (620mi).
In spite of being the winner of the requirement, it had serious problems as its lightweight structure meant that it was too delicate for buoyancy at sea and its sea-handling capabilities left much to be desired. Therefore, many times it was launched from a ship and was recovered at land and was only reimbarked when the ships returned to port.
However, it enjoyed a quite good endurance and thank to its range it could be useful in the Mediterranean, so it was widely used by the Regia Marina during World War 2. That way, six Ro.43 launched from Light Cruisers were the responsible of spotting the British Fleet during the Battle of Calabria on 9th July 1940. One of them, dispatched from the Light Cruiser Eugenio di Savoia, served as spotter for the Regia Marina when flew over the British Battleship HMS Warspite during the exchange of fire between that Battleship and the Italian Battleship Giulio Cesare just before it had to depart as it was chased by a Gloster Sea Gladiator that was launched from the HMS Eagle Aircraft Carrier.
Later, on 27th November 1940 a single Ro.43 that was launched from the Heavy Cruiser Bolzano, spotted the British Fleet at the beginning of the Battle of Cape Spartivento while another one, launched from the Heavy Cruiser Gorizia located the British Convoy. On that same battle, British Blackburn Skuas from the HMS Ark Royal Aircraft Carrier claimed to have shot down one seaplane (most probably a Ro.43 from the Battleship Vittorio Veneto) after a failed bombing on the Italian Fleet. The performance of the Ro.43 was eulogized by the Italian Navy's supreme command.
On 28th March 1941 another Ro.43 launched from the Battleship Vittorio Veneto pinpointed the British Cruiser Squadron at the openings of the Battle of Cape Matapan, near Gavdos island.
Another Ro.43 operating from a cruiser signaled the presence of the British convoy by dropping flares during the Second Battle of Sirte, while another one that operated from the Battleship Littorio directed the fire from the Italian fleet.
The Ro.43 continued to operate in such actions during as late as June 1942 during the Italian Cruiser attack on the Harpoon Convoy which the Axis forces won and one Ro.43 was shot down by a Bristol Beaufighter that operated from Malta.
One hundred and five Ro.43 were in active service when Italy waged war on the Allies in June 1940, which were more than enough to equip Italian surface ships. However, shortly later a better design was requested, possibly a navalized fighter. That request leaded to some small series of fighters to be navalized, like the Reggiane Re.2000 "Catapultabile" or the floater version of the IMAM Ro.51 (which didn't go beyond the prototype stage) that could be fitted in capital ships but, however, it had no floats, so it had to return to a land base or ditch, in the same fashion the British Hawker Sea Hurricane operated in Royal Navy CAM ships.
The best feature of the Ro.43 was the foldable wings, but even so, the maximum number of carried planes per ship was of just two, which, together with the low chances of recovery and the lack of experience with naval aviation, even if the Regia Marina had a Seaplane Carrier, the Giuseppe Miraglia, limited the usage of aircraft in combat. Around 250 of them were built until 1941 and by the time of the Italian Armistice in September 1943 forty-eight of them were still active.
By that time, as Italy was divided in two, in the ensuing chaos that followed, six Ro.43 flew from Sardinia to Mallorca, in the Spanish Balearic Islands, to desert. The aircrafts were interned firts and, in August 1944, they were put into service by the Spanish authorities and operated from Polensa naval base, forming the 1st Squadron of the 53rd Hydro Regiment. They served until October 1949 in the SAR role when they were written-off as the fuselages were very affected by the sea corrosion and were replaced by German Heinkel He.114A which, even if they were outdated, they were in better condition.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAM_Ro.43
2. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAM_Ro.43 (translated)
3. http://fotosantiguasdemallorca.blogspot.com.es/2011/09/la-base-de-hidroaviones-de-pollensa-y_25.html (translated)
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