Fiat G.80

The Fiat G.80 was a military jet trainer designed and built by Fiat, the first true jet-powered indigenous aircraft flown by Italy. A low-wing monoplane with a swept wing, a pressurised cabin, tandem seats under a long bubble canopy and retractable tricycle gear, it used a single British de Havilland Goblin turbojet. The first prototype flew on 9 December 1951, and two prototypes and three preproduction aircraft followed, but the Aeronautica Militare judged it underpowered and heavy and did not order it. Fiat developed the longer G.82 with a Rolls-Royce Nene for a NATO trainer competition, which also ended without an order, and the few aircraft built flew mainly as test machines.