Macchi C.200 Saetta

[FBCrabby]

http://youtu.be/9ENwwkS4U6U

Basic Knowledge
A weird little Italian plane that possessed more operational sorties than pretty much any other Italian plane. Although it was lacking in firepower and engine power, it was still capable of carrying "saying for what is available in aces high" 2x 50kg or 2x 100kg bombs and if ever available 33x 15kg bombs "what good it will do - but fact is fact"

Operational History
(From nationalmuseum.af.mil) - The Regia Aeronautica first employed the Saetta against the British on the Mediterranean island of Malta. Italian pilots also flew the MC.200 in Greece, North Africa, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. The U.S. Army Air Forces fought against MC.200s in North Africa and over Italy itself.

Yugoslavia:
(From wiki) - C.200s from 4° Stormo took part in operations against Yugoslavia right from the start of hostilities. On the dawn of 6 April 1941, four C.200s from 73a Squadriglia flew over Pola fortress and attacked an oil tanker ship, setting it on fire. The 4° Stormo flew its last mission against Yugoslavia on 14 April: on that day, 20 C.200s from 10° Gruppo flew up to 100 km south of Karlovac without meeting any enemy aircraft. Operations ended on 17 April. During those 11 days, the 4° Stormo had not lost a single C.200. Its pilots destroyed 20 seaplanes and flying boats, damaging 10 more. In total, they had set on fire an oil tanker, a fuel truck, several other vehicles and destroyed port installations.

North Africa:
Faced off against the Hurricane and its nemesis the P40. Even though the Hurricane Mk II was faster, the C.200 was more agile. And the strong structure "bullet sponge" was great vs. the more heavily armed Hurricane. But when facing the P40, they were outmatched due to lack of firepower. Also, this is where it also operated ALOT as a fighter/bomber attacking naval ships.

Eastern Front:
"You don't want to know - its too depressing"

Performance:
Decent characteristics for an under-powered plane. Excellent turner with the ability to turn with or even out-turn a hurricane II. And when it entered service, only plane that could out climb it was the spitfire. Diving ability was top-notch and high speed turns was its forte. All-metal construction soaked up bullets and kept it alive; but, it was not fitted with cockpit armor. When it WAS fitted with cockpit armor - it was liable to flat spin due to weight imbalance. Posessed a distinctive "hump" that elevated the cockpit to provide the pilot with an unobstructed view over the engine.

Long story short. It dives well, turns well, and can take a hit. But firepower was lacking.

Specs:
Armament: 2x 12.7mm Breda machine guns - "Late-production Saettas were built with the MC.202 Serie VII wing, thus adding two 7.7 mm (.303 in) Breda-SAFAT machine guns to the armament, thus giving it actually 4x 12.7mm mg's"
Engine: One FIAT A.74 R.C.38 double row, 14-cylinder, air cooled radial engine of 870 hp
Maximum speed: 313 mph at 5k
Range: 355 miles
Ceiling: 29,200 ft.
Weight: 5,275 lbs.

Sources:
http://youtu.be/9ENwwkS4U6U
http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=405
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_macchi_mc200.html





Would make a nice little Eny 40 plane huh? 

[Debrody]

4*12.7mm machine guns is nonsense on this plane. It had a pair of 7.7mms, or (later models) a pair of 12.7mms, fitted with the new wing thats still 2*12.7mms and 2*7.7mms.
anyway, +1, with the general update of the c20x series.

[Seadog36]

Love it! +1

[guncrasher]

can you guys please ask for an airplane that has a little more than a couple of slingshots.  the c47 has better guns and  as for capable, well look up the definition of slingshot .


semp

[Debrody]

True, this one isnt suitable for picking. Cnat get you down in one burst and cant run away. It must be a real crappy one, right?
 

[Ardy123]

can you guys please ask for an airplane that has a little more than a couple of slingshots.  the c47 has better guns and  as for capable, well look up the definition of slingshot .


semp

As debrody said, its a pickers worst possible ride, but I bet its fun to get down and dirty with.

[Seadog36]

Not every ride has to be a cannon monster~ glad all the jet uber plane dweebs live in LW. A super turny, good diving C200 sounds like a blast!

[Slade]

+1

I love any plane that gives me an opportunity to send uber and perk planes (and pilots) to the ground in a burning ball of metal parts and debris.

+1 to the KI-43 and Yak-3 too BTW!  

[VonMessa]

Honestly, I like it, but I would rather see the Stromboli's that we already have get updated first 

[Karnak]

C.200 and S.M.79-II are the two most needed Italian aircraft.

[FBCrabby]

As debrody said, its a pickers worst possible ride, but I bet its fun to get down and dirty with.

Thats right - isn't that the point of the matter? It would make an excellent scenario plane that has ALOT of history! On top of that it is a nice down-and-dirty plane like it has said... I apologize to everyone for not bringing up the more UBER REdONKUlUS plane I can dream of...

But... For the record... This little plane would eat that Over-modeled Brewster's lunch and make it cry 

[Wmaker]

But... For the record... This little plane would eat that Over-modeled Brewster's lunch and make it cry  

Ahh well, you obviously won't let facts get in the way of a knee jerk reaction.



C.200 loses to Brewster in practically every measurable performance category.

Notes on the table above:

-Those weight are taken with both fighters carrying full internal fuel. Brewster carries 600liters of fuel while the C.200 carries roughly half of that and thus has significantly shorter range which means that in typical MA conditions Macchi is often forced to take 100% fuel while Brewster can take 50% which makes the difference in weights/wingloading/powerloading even bigger.

- When designing C.200 Castoldi chose a NACA airfoil which he then modified by sharpening the leading edge (clearly visible in the lowest pic of the OP). While this modification marginally reduced the drag of the wing it made the flow separation much more abrupt and therefore worsened the stall characteristics and lowerred the lift coefficient of the wing. Brewster uses an unmodified NACA airfoil with proper radius of curvature of the leading edge. C.200 gave Italian Air Force pilots that had been used to the lower wingloading biplane fighters their first experiences of accelerated stalls.

-----------------------------------

That said, C.200 is one of my definate favourites and I really really would like to see it sooner rather than later. I hope it is introduced with the updated C.202 and C.205. Many were produced and it saw a lot of combat. It is a cool looking fighter in its ugly sort of way and I would certainly fly it!

[Wmaker]

http://tigroukam.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html

 

Nice footage of the C.200 along with other italian combat aircraft:
http://youtu.be/JxicbKMvG3E

[Butcher]

What an ugly Italian flying bathtub, all the more reasons I want! Flying the C202/205 is like flying a sports car - easy to handle, good marginal speed.

I've shot down over 7 with a pair of Breta's in the nose, so the Macchi C.200 would be a fun ride against carrier Zeros and Seafires.

I've all but given up on flying the C.205 mainly because the fuel really was its short coming, Its no where near an offensive fighter because of it. "yes" you can manage throttle and fly to the next base - however generally speaking you have less then 18-15 minutes of fuel to hot dog before you are empty.

Think of a me109 over the English coast - the c205 doesn't even have that kind of range or time in combat before you have to RTB.

[Wmaker]

A very cool pic: