The IMAM Ro.44 was a fighter seaplane that was designed and developed in Italy as a single-seat variant of the Ro.43 observation two-seater floatplane. It flew for the first time in October 1936, it was a biplane armed with two 12,7mm forward-firing Breda-SAFAT machine-guns and was powered with a single Piaggio P.X.R that yielded 700hp (520Kw). It's rear fuselage was redesigned to get rid of the observer position and some minor changes were made to the tail.
In performance terms, it was almost identical to the Ro.43 although it was more maneouvrable, and was fast enough to intercept another comparable seaplanes of its era like the Fairey Swordfish and the Fairey Seafox, however, as it happened with the Ro.43, its sea-handling was poor and, therefore, of the initial order of 51 aircraft, only 35 were produced from February 1937 onwards.
Operationally, they were used by the 161ª Squadriglia Autonoma Caccia Maritima (161st Autonomous Sea-Fighter Flight) based at Rhodes island, in the Aegean sea. Operating from that base the only war-action that flight took part on, was during the Battle of Crete in May 1941 offering some straffing support to German paratroopers. The 166º Squadriglia da Caccia Maritima, 88º Gruppo Autonomo da Caccia Maritima (166th Sea-Fighter flight, 88th Sea-Fighter Autonomous Squadron), based at the seaplane base of Vigna di Valle (nowadays the site of the museum of the Italian Air Force) also were equipped with them, however most probably they didn't see any action whatsoever.
After the campaign in Crete, they were deemed as not being the best floatplane fighters they had and were soon relegated from the frontlines and were sent to seaplane schools of the Regia Aeronautica.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAM_Ro.44
2. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAM_Ro.44 (translated)
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
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