The project for the P.119 dates back to 1939 for an aircraft with minimum drag with the engine fitted into the mid-fuselage, in a similar layout as the Bell P-39 Airacobra. It was expected to increase manoeuvrability by placing the engine near the centre of gravity, allowing that way heavy nose-mounted armament to be carried too. One year later, in 1940, Piaggio still had to solve three major issues: power transmission, contra-rotating propellers and engine cooling.
In order to solve those, Piaggio's main designer, Giovanni Casiraghi, tried to solve them with a design that was never built, the P.118 double-engined fighter which was going to be powered by two Piaggio P.XI RC 40 radial engines, each of them connected to a propeller. The P.119 was built instead and flew for the first time in late 1942 with three configurations having been studied before one of them was chosen.
The P.119 was a cantilever monoplane made entirely of metal with a conventional wide undercarriage. It had a forward-mounted cockpit with the weapons, four 12,7 mm (0,5 in) Breda-SAFAT machine guns mounted on the nose and one single 20 mm (0.78 in) Breda-SAFAT cannon firing through the propeller hub with provision to install four additional Breda-SAFAT 7.7 mm (0.3 in) in the wings, but they were never installed in the prototype. Apparently an anti-tank version with a 37 mm (1.45 in) cannon instead of the 20 mm one, was also envisioned but it never went beyond the drawing board. It had an advanced construction for the time, with many removable panels for internal inspection with the number of components reduced to a minimum and standardised to make construction as easy as possible.
It was powered by a single Piaggio P.XV RC 45 radial engine which yielded 1.500 hp of power. It was located behind the cockpit with cooling air intakes fitted under the nose. A further development was planned with a more advanced variant powered by a Piaggio P.XV RC 50 expected to yield 1.650 hp of power.
The aircraft was flight-tested, but it was found that firing all the weapons produced excessive vibration. A landing accident slightly damaged one wing on 2nd August 1943 and one month later the Italian armistice brought the project to an end.
Unlike many other Italian aircraft of the time, it was not sent to Guidonia (Regia Aeronautica's test centre) for official evaluation and that's why it has been a rather mysterious fighter.
Performance could've been very good as it solved the main flaw of the Italian fighters of the time, their feeble armament. Its performance was good enough to compete with other Italian fighters of the time and had much better endurance. However, the aircraft was not ready when the Fiat G.55, Reggiane Re.2005 and Macchi C.205 were available and that resulted catastrophic for the programme. As we said previously the aircraft was not officially evaluated by the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Air Force) and just one machine, registered as MM.496 was built. Apart from this, the range, endurance, overall visibility and armament were superior. But, with its many technical problems it was never in condition to become an operational aircraft, so the only Italian fighter with an engine mounted in the mid-fuselage section was forgotten. Unlike wikipedia claims, there was other fighter with an identical layout in the Axis side, the Yokosuka R2Y.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_P.119
2. https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/piaggio-p-119.47582/
3. https://www.valka.cz/Piaggio-P-119-t1325
4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
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