SUPERMODEL FIAT G.55 "What-If" Five Cannons + Four Machine Guns

[Retired In Kalifornia]

The FIAT G.55 arguably was WWII Italy's best operational interceptor fighter though just 274 were built during the war, three 20 mm cannon + two 12.7 mm machine gun Serie II Intercettore Bombardiere (G-55/2 bomber interceptors) constituting the production majority. The three G.55 prototypes + 16 Sottoserie 0 (G.55/0) pre-production aircraft were delivered with four 12.7 mm machine guns per the 1942 Regia Aeronautica Italiana 'Serie V' Intercettore aircraft evaluation program pitted against the Macchi C.205V & Reggiane Re.2005. All types were powered by 1,475hp license-built Daimler Benz DB 605s, all were operational by time of the September 8, 1943 Italian Armistice, the post armistice Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR) flying newly built & rebuilt C.205Vs & G.55s well as ex-Luftwaffe Bf-109s up till the May 2, 1945 surrender of surviving Repubblica Sociale Italiana & Weirmacht forces.

The ANR did not operate interceptor fighters armed with more than three 20 mm cannons though Varese Italy-based Aeronautica Macchi had the four-cannon 1,750hp Daimler Benz DB 603-powered C.207 under development prior to the September 1943 armistice. FIAT's DB 603-powered G.56 first flown in March 1944 clearly was capable of carrying more than three cannons though the Germans prohibited its production. IF the ANR had been able to equip G.55s with GM-1 & MW50 engine boosting systems they might had improved altitude performance to allow hanging two podded Waffenfabrik Mauser MG 151 20mm cannons underneath the mainwings ala the 1943 Macchi C.202 Esperimento Cannoni in attacking Allied bombers, with this in mind the FIAT G.55 Combattente Intercettore Pesante prototype is presented as my Italian "what-if" build of 2019.

As a "what-if" on top of this "what-if" four 12.7 mm machine guns ala the G.55 prototypes & G.55/0s are included; GM-1 boosted high altitude performance against Allied bombers likely would had been poor given the aircraft's weight though MW50-boosted Combattente Intercettore Pesantes could had been employed as ground attack aircraft ala the Hawker Typhoon.

 

[pathology_doc]

IIRC there are three fasces in the Italian insignia and they all point the same way - with the handles out to the right.

Performance would have been awful and they would have been sitting ducks.

 

[Aubi]

No, those used are the insignia of the Italian social republic, a puppet state founded by the Germans n the Italian north led by the recently freed Mussolini.

 

[Retired In Kalifornia]

IIRC there are three fasces in the Italian insignia and they all point the same way - with the handles out to the right.

Performance would have been awful and they would have been sitting ducks.

No, those used are the insignia of the Italian social republic, a puppet state founded by the Germans n the Italian north led by the recently freed Mussolini.

Three Regia Aeronautica Italiana (RAI) fasci supposedly meant "God-King-Country", two Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR) fasci "God-Country" the Repubblica Sociale Italiana being king-less. RAI fasci blades all faced outwards on mainwings, upwards facing ANR fasci blades also were outwards though not always, FIAT in particular known to had factory painted left-handed ones on some FIAT G.55s.

Yep, FIAT G.55 Combattente Intercettore Pesante fully armed with cannons & machine guns powered by Daimler Benz DB 605s absolutely were sitting ducks as interceptor fighters even with GM-1 & MW-50, as ground attack aircraft you'd think they'd give Allied ground forces heartburn. Five cannon-armed DB 603-powered FIAT G.56s absolutely would had been threatening to Allied bombers over northern Italy, fortunately for them the Germans prohibited its production.

 

[pathology_doc]

Ah, I didn't know that about the Fasces. Interesting. Thanks for that.

 

[F2D_combat]

in fact modification on "G.55bis"of 4 wing guns was already planned before end of WWII and traces of this modification we find in the structure of post-war G.59 that has kept the predisposition ...