Macchi C.202 Folgore: Italy’s Best Fighter of the Second World War

Author(s): Davide F. Jabes, Alessandro Romanello and Niccolo Tognarini

ISBN: 9781781558300
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A comprehensive history of the Macchi C.202 during the Second World War, including both operational types and experimental aircraft.
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  • The only modern and successful fighter produced by Italy during the Second World War in significant numbers

  • Based on primary sources from various national and international archives, including an extensive bibliography

  • Reconstructs the entire story of the Macchi C.202 from its early predecessors conceived for the Schneider Cup to its post-war use

  • A must-have for military enthusiasts, historians, modellers and those interested in the complexities of aircraft design and production during the Second World War

    The Macchi C.202 Folgore aka ‘Lightning’ was probably the most successful Italian fighter during the Second World War.

    It is generally agreed that the performance of the Macchi was superior to the Hawker Hurricane and the Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk and on par with the Supermarine Spitfire Mk. V. It is not by chance that nearly all the Italian top scoring aces flew this fighter either with the Regia Aeronautica or the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana.

    At the same time, the C.202 was the symbol of a dysfunctional Italian military complex: a deficiency of sound industrial planning resulting in orders from the Regia Aeronautica for an exaggerated number of different aircraft; the lack of development of adequate engines limiting aircraft performance and capacity to inferior armament, which lacked punch; and the corruption of politics and culpable responsibility of the high military spheres.

    The C.202 was therefore produced in limited numbers while there is a consensus that the air war, especially in the African theatre, would have been different had the aircraft been adopted in greater numbers.

    BOOK ISBN 9781781558300
    FORMAT 234 x 156 mm
    BINDING Hardback
    PAGES 256 pages
    PUBLICATION DATE 23 September 2021
    TERRITORY World
    ILLUSTRATIONS 52 black-and-white and 2 colour photographs

     

     





    Davide F. Jabes received his PhD in history from the University of York (UK). Jabes has worked as a consultant and researcher in modern history for the University of Siena and several research institutes, as well as many publishing houses. He has also written a book on the Italian soldiers during the Second World War.

    Alessandro Romanello graduated in Italian literature at the University of Bologna and is responsible for the modern book collections of the ‘Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei’ in Rome.

    Niccolò Tognarini has a PhD in History of International Relations from the European University Institute and is presently working at the Council of the European Union as a curator.

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