Macchi C200
Description
Role	Fighter
Crew	1
First Flight	December 24, 1937
Entered Service	October, 1939
Manufacturer	Aeronautica Macchi
Dimensions
Length	8.4 m	26 ft 20 in
Wingspan	10.6 m	34 ft 8 in
Height	0.2 m	ft 6 in
Wing Area	16.7 m²	180 ft²
Weights
Empty	1,770 kg	3,894 lb
Loaded	2,200 kg	4,840 lb
Maximum takeoff	kg	lb
Powerplant
Engine	Fiat A74
Power	630 kW	850 hp
Performance
Maximum speed	504 km/h	313 mph
Combat range	km	miles
Ferry range	km	miles
Service ceiling	10,060 m	33,000 ft
Rate of climb	920 m/min	3,030 ft/min
Wing loading	131.7 kg/m²	26.9 lb/ft²
Power/Mass	0.286 kW/kg	0.176 hp/lb
Armament
Guns	2 × 12.7 mm Breda machine guns

The Macchi C.200 Saetta was a World War II fighter aircraft built by Aeronautica Macchi in Italy, and used in various forms throughout the Italian air forces. Macchi C200 fighter. ... December 24 is the 358th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (359th in leap years). ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1937: Events March March 5 - Imperial Airways opens a new flying boat base at Hythe, Hampshire. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1939: Events January January 12 - the RAF Auxiliary Air Force Reserve is formed February February 9 - Alex Henshaw sets a new speed record for the round trip between England and Cape Town in 4 days 10 minutes in a Percival Mew... Aermacchi is an Italian aircraft manufacturer founded in 1913 at Varese in north-western Lombardy, 55 km north of Milan. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... Aermacchi is an Italian aircraft manufacturer founded in 1913 at Varese in north-western Lombardy, 55 km north of Milan. ...

Following the end of Italy's campaigns in East Africa, a program was started to completely re-equip the Regia Aeronautica with a new interceptor aircraft of modern design. They were interesting planes powered with a radial engine, with 1-hour endurance, armed with a single 50 caliber (~12.7 mm) machine gun. After realizing the armament was wholly inadequate, they later modified the specification to the also-inadequate two guns. Several companies responded with designs. East Africa is a region generally considered to include: Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia Kenya Somalia Tanzania Uganda Burundi, Rwanda, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, and Sudan are sometimes considered a part of East Africa. ... The Regia Aeronautica, during World War II, was the Italian air force. ... The MiG-25 is a Russian interceptor that was the mainstay of the Soviet air defence. ... Radial engine of a biplane. ... The word calibre (British English) or caliber (American English) designates the interior diameter of a tube or the exterior diameter of a wire or rod. ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ...

At Macchi the design started under the direction of Mario Castoldi, designer of the Macchi entries in the Schneider Trophy races, and thus a direct counterpart to R. J. Mitchell at Supermarine. His design was a completely modern all-metal cantilever low-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear and an enclosed cockpit. One interesting feature was the advanced design for the wing, the hydraulically actuated flaps were interconnected with the ailerons so that when the flaps were lowered the ailerons were drooped as well. The Schneider Trophy (or prize or cup) for seaplanes was announced by Jacques Schneider, a financier, balloonist and aircraft enthusiast, in 1911 with a prize of roughly £1,000. ... Reginald Joseph Mitchell (20 May 1895-11 June 1937) was an aeronautical engineer, most notable for his design of the Supermarine Spitfire. ... Supermarine was a British ship and aircraft manufacturer. ... The cantilevered beam (green) hangs out into open space from its supporing structure (blue). ... A monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. ... The undercarriage or landing gear is equipment which supports an aircraft when it is not flying. ... Cockpit of a light aircraft, showing instrumentation dials and dual control yokes. ... Hydraulics is a branch of science and engineering concerned with the use of liquids to perform mechanical tasks. ... The word Flap can refer to several things. ... Aileron location on a Piper PA-28. ...

Power was provided by the 840 hp (626 kW) Fiat A.74 radial engine, even though Castoldi preferred inlines and had used them in all of his previous designs. Italian industrial leaders had been instructed to concentrate solely on radials due to their better reliability, but this change may have set back the entire engine industry several years. The horsepower (hp) is the name of several non-metric units of power. ... Fiat S.p. ... Radial engine of a biplane. ... An inline engine is an internal-combustion engine with cylinders aligned in one or several rows. ...

The first prototype C.200 flew the day before Christmas in 1937. It was followed by a second prototype early the next year. Testing of the prototypes went smoothly. One of them attained a speed of 500 mph (800 km/h) in a dive, although the puny engine drove the plane to only 315 mph (500 km/h) in level flight. This was nevertheless better than the performance of the competing Fiat G.50, Reggiane R.2000 and Caproni Vizzola F/5, and in 1938 the C.200 won the competition and an initial order for 99 was placed. The G.50 was also placed in limited production because it could be in service earlier. However, first production planes showed control problems in slow speed maneuvers, as consequence of it, the design of the wings was subsequently modified by Sergio Stefanutti, chief designer of SAI Ambrosini. Prototypes or prototypical instances combine the most representative attributes of a category. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Miles per hour is a unit of speed, expressing the number of international miles covered per hour. ... The Fiat G.50 Freccia (Italian: Arrow) was an Italian fighter aircraft of World War II. It was the first Italian low-wing monoplane fighter with enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear to go into production (without the enclosed cockpit though, as Italian pilots felt uncomfortable with it). ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The C.200 began to enter into service in October 1939, by which time it had been given the name Saetta (Lightning). When Italy entered the war in June 1940, 144 had been delivered and some were in front-line squadrons. The first combat missions were flown as escorts for SM.79's attacking Malta in the autumn of 1940, and the type served subsequently in actions over Greece and Yugoslavia. The Saetta saw extensive use in North Africa and a number were involved in operations on the Eastern Front during 1941-2 where they racked up an impressive 88 to 15 score in that otherwise disastrous campaign. Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in all south Slavic languages, in Cyrillic Југославија) is a term used for three separate but successive political entities that existed during most of the 20th century on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe. ... North Africa is a region generally considered to include: Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara The Azores, Canary Islands, and Madeira are sometimes considered to be a part of North Africa. ... The Eastern Front was the theatre of combat between Nazi Germany and its allies against the Soviet Union during World War II. It was somewhat separate from the other theatres of the war, not only geographically, but also for its scale and ferocity. ...

Performance was never good enough. An attempt to solve this came in the form of a single prototype of the C.201 with the 1,000 hp (750 kW) A.76 engine, but this was abandoned in favor of the Daimler-Benz DB 601 powered C.202. The Saetta was to have been replaced outright by the C.202 after only one year in production, but the C.200's life was extended because Alfa Romeo could not produce enough of the RA.1000 (DB 601) engines, and more C.200's were built using C.202 parts while they waited for production to pick up. The Daimler-Benz DB 601 was a German aircraft engine built during World War II. It was a liquid-cooled inverted V12, and powered the Messerschmitt Bf 109, among others. ... The Macchi C.202 Folgore was a World War II fighter aircraft built by the Macchi company, a development of their earlier C.200 Saetta mounting a more powerful German designed Daimler-Benz DB 601 engine. ... Alfa Romeo is an Italian automobile manufacturing company, founded as Darracq Italiana by Cavaliere Ugo Stella, an aristocrat from Milan in partnership with the French automobile firm of Alexandre Darracq. ...

In the end 1,153 Saetta's were produced, but almost all were gone by the time of the armistice in September 1943. Twenty-three were flown to Allied airfields in southern Italy, and flown for a short time by pilots of the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force. 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ... The Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force was an air force formed in 1943 in Southern Italy, whose pilots flew with the Allies after the Italian Armistice. ...

Italian aircraft production 1935 to 1945 Italian aircraft production 1935 to 1945. ...