Fiat G.55 Centauro

The Fiat G.55 Centauro, Italian for centaur, was a single-engine single-seat monoplane fighter designed and produced by the Italian aircraft manufacturer Fiat Aviazione and operated by both the Regia Aeronautica and the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana in the latter half of the Second World War. It was developed at Fiat's Turin facility and broke with the Italian preference for radial engines by using an inline engine, a licence-built copy of the German Daimler-Benz DB 605. Armament varied between 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon and 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns. The prototype first flew on 30 April 1942, and after competitive trials the fighter entered quantity production and squadron service the following year, though fewer than 300 were completed by the end of the conflict. The G.56, a variant with the larger Daimler-Benz DB 603 engine, is not believed to have been produced in quantity. Production was reestablished after the war, with sales to the Argentine and Royal Egyptian air forces, and a trainer version, the G.59, used Rolls-Royce Merlin engines.