Ali D'Italia

Discuss and review reference material relating to WWII, the Inter-War Period and WWI. Includes book and author reviews
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Capitano
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Post by Capitano » Mon Dec 29, 2008 5:02 pm

Jeff, I guess you could say it's like the Fw 190A and the Fw 190D 'Dora'. Same plane it just looks different. That may be the problem with the C.200 and the C.202/205. I view them as two different aircraft. In fact, I kind of view the Macchi C.200 and the Fiat G.50 as sister aircraft. I also view the C.202 the C.205 as mostly the same plane just a different version. I don't know if I am in the minority here but maybe that is what the general perception is of the 200, 202 and 205.

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JeffZ
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Post by JeffZ » Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:35 pm

Capitano, the point I was trying to make is that often, historians focus their assaults on Italian WWII equipment on production figures for the Fiat Cr.42 failing to point out that the Cr.42 wasn't even part of the R-program, and actually represented only a fraction of the frontline fighters produced by Italy during WWII. The bulk of frontline Italian fighters during WWII were made-up of the Reggiane fighters (no biplanes), Macchi fighters (no biplanes) and the Fiat G.50 and Fiat G.55. When you add up the production figures for all those monoplane fighters, how on earth does an historian arrive at the fact that the Regia Aeronautica focused on the biplane formula for far too long? The Fiat Cr.42 was phased-out as a frontline fighter in 1941, not long after the Gladiator was retired in North Africa, Malta and Greece. I think this is a deliberate attempt by historians, particularly the English historians to mis-represent Italian arms in WWII. And I think Italian historians need to stand up and speak-up about this kind of stuff that still gets passed around the so-called history books in the English speaking world. Sorry to be blunt, my two cents.

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Capitano
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Post by Capitano » Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:45 pm

Great response Jeff, you said it perfectly. I'm a History major and all history is written with a perspective. All history is biased in some way. I could post an entire lecture but I won't bore you guys to tears.

I don't blame you one bit for getting on a soapbox and giving us your perspective. I read things every day in books, magazines, stories, the news, and say, no, that's not what happened. Time has a way of fixing things like what you posted above but some things just won't go away no matter how hard people like me try to fix them.

You and I know perfectly well that the Italian Macchi's and Fiats were some of the best machines to come out of WWII. There just weren't enough of them to make a difference to the juggernaut that was the American industrial might. But until the rest of the modeling world stops building Mustangs and Messerschmidt's, you and I will be in the minority.

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Editor
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Post by Editor » Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:10 pm

Great posts. Unfortunately Jeff I don't think you'll get much help from the Italian historians because Fascism and anything to do with it is still taboo in Italy. As I mentioned to Bryan over coffee the other day, the Italian historians in some ways continue to perpetuate many of these myths since they (the state) want no repeat or return of Fascism.

I agree Capitano, although the Italian military complex produced some excellent equipment during WWII, there simply wasn't enough of if manufactured to make a difference – a constraint of resources.

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