Fiat CR.20

The Fiat CR.20 was an Italian single-seat biplane fighter designed by Celestino Rosatelli and produced by Fiat. It was a sesquiplane, with a lower wing noticeably smaller than the upper, built on an all-metal framework of steel and light alloys and covered mostly in fireproof fabric, with duralumin sheeting over the nose. Power came from a water-cooled Fiat A.20 V-12 engine of about 410 horsepower, and the armament of the production aircraft was two Vickers machine guns. It was the step between the early CR.1 and the successful CR.30, CR.32 and CR.42 series. Official testing took place at Montecelio in September 1926, and by 1933 the CR.20 equipped 27 squadrons of the Italian Regia Aeronautica, which used it against Libyan rebels and in the early stages of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. Variants included a floatplane, the Idro, and the Asso with an Isotta Fraschini engine. Five were sold to Paraguay for the Chaco War.