Fiat G.50

Fiat G.50

The Fiat G.50 Freccia ("Arrow") was a World War II Italian fighter aircraft. First flown in February 1937, the G.50 was Italy’s first single-seat, all-metal monoplane with an enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear to go into production. Pilots disliked the sliding cockpit canopy, which was not easy to open quickly and interfered with vision, so an open cockpit was adopted in later production series. In early 1938, the Freccias served in the Regia Aeronautica, and with its expedionary arm, the Aviazione Legionaria, in Spain, where they proved to be fast and, as with most Italian designs, very manoeuvrable. However, it had inadequate weaponry (two Breda-SAFAT 12.7-mm machine guns). The Fiat G.50 was also used in small numbers by the Croatian Air Force and 35 were flown to Finland, where they served with distinction.