Fiat G.91 With Side Air Intakes ?!

[hesham]

Hi,

in Flightglobal,a strange artist drawing to Fiat G.91 with side air
intakes,is that a mistake or what ?!.

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959 - 0928.html

 

[flateric]

you are talking of the side gun bays I suppose?

 

[Michel Van]

is a mistake

the graphic show postion of Weapons on G.91
in this case "side air intakes" they are the aircraft guns...

 

[hesham]

Thank you my dears,I misunderstand it.

 

[Skybolt]

Is a mistake.. and it isn't. The early project of the G-91 had side intakes like the G-80. I have a photo of the model somewhere.

 

[Skybolt]

Finally found them: as you may notice, even early chin intake configuration had different vertical tail. The project switched to chin intakes during summer 1954.

 

[hesham]

Thank you my dear Skybolt very much.

 

[Petrus]

you are talking of the side gun bays I suppose?

By the way, do you have any idea whether the Italian G.91s actually used in service the alternate weapon packs in the side bays? According to the picture there were four options for each bay: 2 .50 machine guns, one 20mm or 30mm cannon, or 25 2-in rockets, or 15 2.75-in rockets. Obviously the Italians didn't use the cannon option (the DEFA 30mm guns appeared only in G.91Y), but I wonder if they adopted the rocket packs.

Piotr

 

[hesham]

Good question my dear Petrus.

 

[Petrus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks92fdrWfyU

Here you've got an Italian film on the G.91. It contains footage of (I suppose) field trials of the aircraft where you may see armament details (including French AA.20 guided missile that was not eventually adopted) as well as G.91s operating from a grass field.

Piotr

 

[Petrus]

Here are some photos of the G.91 that I took in the Malta Aviation Museum in 2014. They show a 25-tube rocket launcher for 2-inch rockets. Intestingly the G.91 displayed in the musem has the rocket launcher under its right wind and a drop tank under the left wing. I have no idea if the Italian Air Force actually used such an asymmetrical arrangement.
As far as I know there was also a 31- or 30-round laucher for the 2-inch rockets that was to arm the G.91. Again I am not sure whether the bigger laucher was actually adopted and used. Perhaps someone else knows anyting on that?

Piotr

 

[Petrus]

And here is a photo of the G.91 (prototype I suppose), in which you may see the 30-tube rocket pods. The photo is quite well known and has been reproduced in many publications, but frankly I don't think the pod was adopted by the Italian Air Force. Do you have any info on that?

As for the other rockets, the largest are certainly the HVARs, and those under the wings are probably the British 3-inch rockets (however I'm not so sure).

(Source: http://www.airwar.ru/enc/attack/g91r.html)

Piotr

 

[Rokker]

Does anyone know what these 2 inch rockets might be? Perhaps have any info on them? The only thing I can think of is the Gimlet, but this is way too late for the Gimlet.

 

[Petrus]

Does anyone know what these 2 inch rockets might be? Perhaps have any info on them? The only thing I can think of is the Gimlet, but this is way too late for the Gimlet.

There was an Italian indigenous 2-in/51-mm rocket developed sometime in the 1950s/1960s:

Flugzeugbewaffnung der Welt Raketen​

Italien​

51mm ARF/8M2

​

​

Beschreibung:

Eine einfache Rakete zur Bekämpfung von Bodenzielen, die in Raketenbehältern zum Einsatz kommt. Durch ihr leichtes Gewicht ist sie für leichte COIN Flugzeuge und Hubschrauber geradezu ideal. Mehrere Gefechtsköpfe stehen zur Auswahl, die alle 2,2 kg wiegen: HEI, PFF, Nebel, farbiger Nebel, Leuchtkörper und AT-AP (HEAT mit Splittermantel). Die Rakete ist drallstabilisiert und verfügt über ein Klappleitwerk.

Technische Daten:​	​
Hersteller:​	SNIA-BPD​
Kaliber:​	51 mm​
Gewicht:​	4,8 kg​
Länge:​	1,048 m​
Geschwindigkeit:​	515 m/s​
Reichweite:​	​
Gefechtsköpfe:​	siehe Text! je 2,2 kg​

Source: http://waffen-der-welt.alices-world.de/flugzeugwaffen/rockets/i_51arf-8m2.html

Piotr