Supermarine Spitfire. European Users, part eleven. Italian Spitfire users.

 

In 1942 the Italians managed to capture a single Spitfire Mk. V, which was transferred in September of that same year to the experimental centre in Guidonia (Regia Aeronautica's -Italian Air Force- experimental test centre), close to Rome. However,  as we couldn't find any graphical evidence of this captured Spitfire, we decided not to draw it.
After Italy switched sides and joined Allies, the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force (the name given to the pro-Allied Italian Air Force) was equipped with the Spitfire Mk. V, more exactly the 51º Stormo Caccia Terrestre (51st Land Fighter Wing).
This unit, composed of three Gruppi (squadrons) flew the Spitfire Mk. V together with the Macchi C.205 from 1944 until the end of the war.

After the war, around 150 Spitfire Mk. IX were bought from the British and were used by the 51º and 5º Stormos plus the Scuola di Vuolo (Flight School). 
In December 1947 Italian Spitfires were assigned registration numbers ranging from MM. 4000 to MM.4285 (the letters 'MM' stands for 'Matricola Militare' - Military Number Plate-). This numbering did not include those aircraft that had previously been written off due to accidents. Additionally, two registrations, (which by a strange coincidence were MM. 4040 and MM.4140) were assigned to non-existing aircraft by mistake.

In 1949 the Italian took over two ex-Turkish Spitfire Mk. IX under unclear circunstances. 
Both Stormos ceased to employ the Spitfire in 1950. They were later used until mid-1952 in flight schools. After 1952 most Spitfires were scrapped, while some were employed for fire-fighting training and thirty units, which were in the best technical conditions, were sold to Israel. 

Sources:
1st AJ Press - Monografie Lotnicze 40 - Supermarine Spitfire part 3 (translated)
2nd https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/51º_Stormo (translated)
3rd https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/5º_Stormo (translated)
4th https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Supermarine_Spitfire_operators#Italy

de Havilland Vampire. Part nine. Some European users.

 

The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter aircraft designed and developed by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF), but also by many other countries all around the globe. Among them, the following ones:

• Ireland: The Irish Air Corps (IAC) got their first jet aircraft in 1956 when they received three Vampire T.55 in May and July. They were assigned to No.1 Squadron with base at Baldonnel airfield, in Dublin. In 1960 three additional T.55s were ordered and delivered on 19th January 1961 and 16th March. They served as trainers until 1975 when they were gradually written off. One machine was sold to a private buyer in the USA, some were scrapped and some other were donated to museums.

• Italy: Italy was looking for ways to modernize the Aeronautica Militare Italiana (Italian Military Aeronautical - Italian Air Force or AMI) during the late 1940s with a strong emphasis on re-establishing their aeronautical industry. After discussion with various aircraft manufacturers, the Italian Government decided in favour of the Vampire after de Havilland sent a demonstrator aircraft for inspection and technical evaluation in 1948. An agreement was signed on 24th October 1949 for five Vampire FB.Mk.5 and 14 NF.54 made at the UK plus a license for 120 FB.52s (which was eventually increased to 150) locally built by Macchi. This deal included also the license to manufacture the Goblin and Ghost engines. The first five FB.Mk.5 were flown from Hatfield factory (Hertfordshire) to Foggia-Amendola (Apulia, South-Eastern Italy) on 11th February 1956. They were assigned to the AMI Jet Training School. In August 1951 Vampires for the first operational units of the AMI ,79 and 81 Squadriglie (Flight), 6º Gruppo (Squadron) of the 4º Stormo Caccia (4th Fighter Wing) arrived. The Italian Vampires took part in 'Cirrus 6' NATO exercise in Germany and, eventually other units of the AMI were equipped with the Vampire, like the 7º Gruppo Scuola de Caccia (7th Group Fighter School), the whole 2nd and 4th Stormos, with base at Bergamo (Lombardy) and Napoli-Capodichino (Campania), 1 3 and 4 regioni aerei (Aerial Region) and the Reparto Sperimentale Volo (Experimental Flight Detachment). Between July 1950 and December 1951 all the FB.52s were delivered plus 10 spare sets built by Fiat. Once the Italian production was set up, Macchi assembled 27 machines at Varese (North-Western Lombardy) with the first machine taking off on 18th December 1951. Fiat manufactured 93 machines at Turin (Piedmont) with their first Vampire flying shortly later, on 22nd December 1951. A second batch of 30 Vampires FB.52 was shared between Macchi and Fiat and the ordered NF.54 night fighters were completed at Hatfield during 1951, with the remaining ones being completed at Chester. They were delivered to the AMI between June 1951 and 25th March 1953. They were all assigned to 3a Scuola de Caccia (3rd Fighter School which became Scuola Caccia Ogni Tempo (All-Weather Fighter School). During the following years the Italian Vampires took part in many NATO exercises. The NF.54s were gradually withdrawn from use between May 1956 and October 1959 when they were replaced by the North American F-86K 'Sabre Dog'. The regular Vampires were gradually replaced by Republic F-84 Thunderjet and the North American F-86 Sabre and, by 1960 they had all been withdrawn from service.

• Norway: The Royal Norvegian Air Force (RNAF) sought to replace their Supermarine Spitfire and de Havilland Mosquito piston-powered fighters and so, their turned their sight to the Gloster Meteor. However, when tested, it was felt that the Vampire with its greater angle of climb, smaller turning radius and shorter take off and landing run, was more adequate for Norway's geographical characteristics. 
  A total of  58 Vampire FB.Mk.3 were ordered by the RNAF in 1948. They were completed at Preston, Lancashire and Hatfield. Once under RNAF Command they formed the 'C' Flight of No.331 Squadron, for technical evaluation. By October 1949 all the Vampires Mk.3 were delivered with the delivered of the FB.52 continuing until April 1951. 
  In early October 1951 twelve Vampire F.Mk.3 of the No.336 Squadron flew to North Weald, Essex, to take part in 'Exercise Emperor', returning to Norway on 17th October. 
  In late 1951 six Vampire T.55 were ordered with the first delivery taking part in 4th July 1952. All six were assigned to Nos. 336 and 337 Squadrons. The RNAF, however, began to take into service the Lockheed T.33 for training and the T.55s were, therefore, returned to the UK. 
  As Norway was part of NATO's Northern commitment, was pressured to have the most modern warplanes in service and so, in 1957 the last nine F.Mk.3 and 25 FB.52 were written off active service. Some were donated to museums, other served as gate guards and some few were used as ground instructional frames. In the year 1991 one ex-Swiss Vampire was operated by the Warbirds of Norway Association.

Sources:

1st Hall Park Books - Warpaint 27 - De Havilland Vampire

2nd: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Vampire

3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_de_Havilland_Vampire_operators

Airspeed AS.65 Consul, more European users

The Airspeed AS.65 Consul was a British twin-engined light airliner that saw service with many airlines around the world. It was basically a civilian conversion from the AS.10 Oxford trainer. On this post we're covering the next countries and airlines:

• France: We've already wrote about the Consul in service with various French colonial airlines, specially in Indochina and Algeria. But it's worth pointing that there was a French airline, Airnautic, which operated from mainland France, that had three Consul in service. They were acquired in as late as 1957 and served until the early 1960s. One of them was used for survey works in French West Africa. By 1963 all three of them had been written off and sold for scrap. Oddly one of them, registered as F-BHVY wasn't scrapped until 1975.
  As we couldn't find graphical evidence of a Consul operating with this airline, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Iceland: One aircraft was registered by Flugfedir, Iceland's national airline in 1951. This aircraft was intended to cover the air route between Reykjavik-Glasgow and Liverpool but it crashed near Sheffield in April that same year killing its pilot, Magnusson and two crew members. As we couldn't find photos or pictures about this aircraft, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Ireland: Irish Government bought two Consuls in 1947 to be assigned one year later to Irish National Airway, Aer Lingus. One of them covered the regular route between Dublin and Liverpool until 1953 while the other one was sold to Pakistan one year later after being put into service with Aer Lingus, in 1949.
• Italy: One Italian airline, Trasporti Aerei Mediterranei (Mediterranean Air Transports) operated three Consuls between 1955 and 1963. There were other two Consuls which served with Italian owners. One of them served with the charter airline Aerofotografica SA from 1963 until 1964 when it crashed, and another one was bought in 1953 by a private owner but was sold shortly later, in 1954, to a British owner. As it doesn't seem to exist graphical evidence of a Consul in Trasporti Aerei Mediterranei's colours, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Monaco: A single Consul was registered as MC-ABA by Monte Carlo Airways in October 1946, but it wasn't delivered. As another aircraft on this post, the drawing is speculative. 
• Crown Colony of Malta: Two Maltese airlines, Chartair and Air Malta operated a total of six Consuls. They were operated from 1946 until the early 1950s.

Sources:

1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Consul

2.https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/airspeed_oxford_&_consul.pdf

Caproni Campini N.1

Note: Next Saturday there won't be new post, since we're taking some days off. See you back in July!
In 1931 Italian aeronautics engineer Secondo Campini submitted a report to the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Italian Air Force) on the potential of jet propulsion, with some proposals for its implementation. Later that year, Campini founded his own company to seek after both the development and practical applications of the jet engine. Accordingly, the next year he demonstrated a jet-powered boat in Venice, being that way the first vehicle to harness jet-propulsion and reached a speed of 28 knots during testing. This experiment attracted much attention from the Italian government, and shortly later Campini received a government-issued contract to produce a pair of engines for testing purposes.
During 1934 the Regia Aeronautica allowed the development of two prototypes together with a static testbed for the purpose of demonstrating the principle of a jet aircraft and explore its military applications. Considering that Campini's company lacked the needed industrial infrastructure for such endeavour, he reached an agreement with Caproni aviation manufacturer, under which they provided the needed material assistance for the manufacturing of the prototypes. Under this partnership Campini developed his design, which later received the official military designation of N.1.
Its development, unlike its German or British counterparts, was made totally public, because the Italian government wanted to give the impression that Italian industry was modern and sophisticated.
The Caproni Campini N.1 was an experimental aircraft, designed to demonstrate the feasibility of the jet engine. It was entirely out of duraluminium and had a monoplane layout, outfitted with an eliptical wing. The initial aircraft lacked certain elements like a pressurised cabin, however, that feature was included in the second prototype. However, after initial flight testing, it was found that the heat output generated by the pioneering propulsion system, the canopy had to be left permanently open as a heat mitigating measure.
The engine itself was different from the later jet engines. One radical difference was the compressor, a three-stage variable-incidence one, located forward of the cockpit, was driven by a conventional piston engine, which was a 900hp liquid-cooled Isotta Fraschini. The flow provided by the compressor was used to cool down the engine before being mixed with the engine's exhaust gases recovering that way most of the heat energy that in traditional piston-propelled designs would've been discharged overboard. A ring-shaped burner would then inject fuel into the gas flow and ignite it, just before the exhaust nozzle to further increase thrust.
The engine turned to be powerful enough to provide enought thrust for flight even without activating the rear burner, similar to a ducted fan coupled with an afterburner. Campini named this configuration as a "Thermojet", although with time it has been known as a "Motorjet". However, due to the small size of the duct, limited the mass flow and therefore the propulsive efficiency of the engine, resulting in relatively low pressure ratios with poor thrust and poor fuel efficiency. Ground tests of the engine yielded a thrust of around 700Kgf (1500Lbf.)
The maiden flight took place on 27th August 1940 in Taliedo, Milan at the hands of test pilot Mario De Bernardi, a veteran pilot who had previously set various aviation records. The initial flight took under 10 minutes, during which the speed was kept under 362 km/h (225mph) on purpose, due to insecurities about the untested frame. Considering that the German Heinkel He.178 had flown a year before, but it was kept as a secret, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale recorded the event as the first successful flight of a jet aircraft.
Subsequent flight tests achieved the speed of 515 km/h (320mph). Anyway, testing revealed issues with the engine as it lacked the ability to provide enought thrust to achieve high performance.
Later, on 30th November 1941 the second prototype was flown by De Bernardi and engineer Giovanni Pedace from Linate Airport in Milan to Guidonia, in Rome, as a publicity maneouver. That was the first cross-country jet flight to occur and the first mail delivery performed by a jet powered aircraft. In that flight there was a stopover at Pisa for refuel and was made entirely without using the rear burner.
The N.1 served as a pioneer and jet demonstrator. After that November 1941 flight, a total of 33 nations, some of which at war with Italy at the moment, sent their official congratulations to Italy for the achievement, making the prototype successful.
Thanks to the experience gained with the N.1, Campini, partnered this time with Reggiane (another Italian aircraft manufacturer) and aircraft designer Roberto Longhi, commenced work on a completely new design including the decission of abandoning the native Italian jet engines in favour of its German counterparts, this aircraft, which was never completed was called Reggiane Re.2007.
The N.1 was kept testing well into 1943 when, due to the outcome of the war, and the Allied bombing campaign which destroyed Caproni's factory at Taliedo, one of the prototypes was destroyed and subsequent testing was cancelled. After the war, the N.1 was transported to RAF Farnborough were it was tested and later scrapped. Another prototype was kept in storage at Caproni's facilities, where it survived the war. During the 1950s it was sent to the Italian Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) to be kept in the Italian Air Force's museum, where it's being showed today.
We've drawn also an entirely fictional single-seater fighter variant (with the cabin heat problem solved) which was armed with two 12,7mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns placed in the nose plus two additional 12,7mm ones placed in the wings.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Campini_N.1
2. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campini-Caproni_C.C.2 (translated)
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

AERFER Ariete

We keep going with this saga of Italian jet airplanes.

The Aerfer Ariete was an the prototype of an Italian jet fighter that flew for the first time in 1958. It was a direct improvement from the Sagittario. It retained the main design features of the Sagittario II, specially the swept wings.

It was powered by two engines, the main being the same as the Sagittario, the 16,2Kn Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 as the main one, and the 8,025Kn Rolls-Royce Soar RSr-2 placed at the back, in tandem configuration. The particularity of this airplane was that this second auxiliary engine had it's own air intake that could be switched-on or off from the cockpit. This was made in order to achieve additional climbing and sprinting power.

As we already said, the prototype flew for the first time on 27th March 1958 and was armed with a pair of 30mm Hispano-Suiza HDD-825 cannons.

No production order was ensued and Aerfer decided to cancel all their fighter projects after this one. Even the much refined Aerfer Leone was cancelled before it could achieve the prototype status.

Sources:
1. Wikipedia
2. The Complete Book of Fighters
3. http://xoomer.virgilio.it/aviostoria/A/AERFER/ARIETE.htm

AERFER Sagittario II

We continue with the saga of these good looking Italian jet fighters.

The Sagittario II was an Italian all-metal single seat light fighter prototype intended to fullfil the interceptor or the light tactical support role. The prototype flew for the first time in May 19th 1956 and it became the first Italian airplane to break the sound barrier by achieving a mach 1.1 speed.

It was designed by the engineer Sergio Stefanutti (the same who designed the previous Sagittario I) and it was built by the Industrie Mechaniche Aeronautiche Meridionali - AERFER (Meridional Mechanical Aeronautical Industries). It was powered by a 16.2Kn thrust Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 engine and was armed with a pair of 30mm Hispano-Suiza HDD-825 cannon.

Some variants were projected:

• Sagittario II adapated for grass landing strip: This project was intended to provide the Sagittario with a separate carriage for taking-off from grass landing strips.
• Sagittario II ground attack-fighter: A ground-attack specialized variant intended to be armed with bombs, napalm canisters and unguided rockets and to be powered by a reduced version of the Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 engine.
• Sagittario II - Biposto scuola: A two-seater trainer version. 
• Sagittario III: A projected version powered by a Bristol Orpheus engine. 

The trial results were excellent, however the NATO decided to favour the development of the much better F-86 Sabre.

Sources: 1. Wikipedia
             2. The Complete book of fighters - Salamander Books
             3. http://xoomer.virgilio.it/aviostoria/A/AERFER/SAGITTARIO%202-PROGETTI.htm

AERFER Sagittario I

Now is the turn for an Italian jet fighter of the 1950s.

The AERFER Sagittario I (AKA Ambrosini Sagittario) was an Italian aerodynamical test airplane based on the Ambrosini S.7 Freccia (Arrow).

New wooden swept wings were added to the fuselage. The swept was of 45º. It was powered by a Turbomeca Marboré engine of 3.7Kn thrust. The inlet was at the nose of the fuselage and the exhaust was at the bottom, under the cockpit. As the original landing gear of the S.7 was retained, a special shielding was added to the rear wheel in order to protect it from the exhaust fumes.

It flew for the first time on 5th January 1953. It was the base for the much refined Sagittario II

Sources:
Wikipedia
Aviastar