Breda Ba.64

The Breda Ba.64 was an Italian single-engined ground attack aircraft used by the Regia Aeronautica during the 1930s. It was designed by Antonio Parano and Giuseppe Panzeri and served in just two units from 1936 together with the Caproni A.P.1. It was written off from frontline duties in 1939 and replaced by the more powerful and advanced Breda Ba.65.
Developed from the previous Breda Ba.27 fighter, the Ba.64 was designed in 1933 to a requirement of the Regia Aeronautica for a multi-role aircraft capable of undertaking various roles like fighter, bomber and reconnaissance. It featured an all-metal low-wing cantilever monoplane with a wire braced tail unit and fixed tail wheel. The open cockpit was placed well forward of the fuselage in line with the wing roots to provide an excellent field of view down as well as forward. The headrest behind the cockpit was extended as a streamlined fairing all the way down the fuselage upper decking to the tail.
Two prototypes were built, serialed MM 249 and MM 250. The first one, MM 249 was a two-seater with a fixed landing gear while the second one, MM 250 was a single-seater with a semi-retractable landing gear housed in a cowling under the wings. Contrary to what wikipedia in English claims, both prototypes were powered by a single Alfa Romeo 125 RC.35 radial engine which yielded 650hp of power. It was the engine that would also power the production variants. It was armed with two Breda-SAFAT 12,7mm (0,5in) machine guns placed in the wing roots plus two additional Breda-SAFAT 7,7mm (0,3in) placed also in the wings and another defensive Breda-SAFAT 7,7mm in the observer's position firing backwards. It could also carry up to 144kg (317.5 pounds) of bombs under the wings and 400kg in the small bomb compartment located between the pilot and the observer.
It flew for the first time in 1934 and it was barely produced for one year as it was manufactured from 1935 until April 1936. Only 44 exemplars were made, all of them by Breda at their factory in Sesto San Giovanni, close to Milan.
Production aircraft were sent to serve with 5º and 50º Stormos, but pilots considered the aircraft to be ill-equipped to perform missions both as a fighter or as a bomber. It also suffered various flaws because it was underpowered, was heavy to control and had a tendency to enter high-speed stalls that led to a number of crashes. After seeing some limited-use in frontline duties, the Ba.64s were relegated to second-line duties in 1939 in the Regia Aeronautica, with some of them serving until 1943 as trainers with a modified cockpit.
Apparently, two Ba.64s were exported to the USSR in 1938 for evaluation purposes and a single machine served with the Aviazione Legionaria, the Italian volunteer air force in the nationalist side of the Spanish Civil War.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breda_Ba.64
2. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breda_Ba.64 (translated)
3. https://www.valka.cz/Breda-Ba-64-t1310
4. La Bancarella Aeronautica - Ali d'Italia 7 - Breda Ba.65 (the Ba.64 is mentioned as the forerunner of the Ba.65)