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Apparently the Luftwaffe pressed some of these planes into service.Did the Germans ever consider building these under licence?

The Germans used what P.108s they could find after September 1943 but didn't consider series production of the plane. There is however a very interesting story which involved the Fiat G.55 and in a meeting of Milch, Galland, Petersen and Goering on 22 February 1943, voted to manufacture the G.55 in Germany under license. The G.55 was flown by Luftwaffe pilots in early 1943 and judged it to be "excellent". Interestingly, the primary reason the Germans chose to build the G.55 was because the DB.603 (1,800 hp) could not be installed in the Bf.109 - a design limitation. Milch hoped to have the G.55 available by early 1944 however on 10 October 1943, following the September 1943 armistice, planned mass-production of the plane was cancelled.

Thanks,Vince,are there any known photos of any version of the P108 with the Luftwaffe insignia?

Yes I believe there's a photo(s) of a P.108A in ADI #15, I'll scan a pic for you this evening.

Bryan wrote:Thanks,Vince,are there any known photos of any version of the P108 with the Luftwaffe insignia?

Here you go (there are others in ADI #15):

Cool pics,Vince.Makes those Auntie Ju's look like dinosaurs.

I agree, German transports lagged behind Italian planes. The Ju.352 helped things but it was an anachronistic plane for such an advanced industry to produce and the Me.323 can not be regarded as a proper transport either. Interestingly, the Italians produced the first-ever purpose built transport, the SM.82 (designed in cooperation with the Italian Army and Airforce). Next to the US (C-46/C-47/C-54/C-69), the Italians produced some of the best transports of WWII. Strangely, the British and French produced no such aircraft.