Fiat G . 55 The Fiat G . 55 " Centauro " ( Italian : " Centaur " ) was a single - engine single - seat World War II fighter aircraft used by the " Regia Aeronautica " and the A . N . R . ( " Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana " ) in 1943 - 1945 . It was designed and built in Turin by Fiat . The Fiat G . 55 was probably the best type produced in Italy during World War II , ( a subjective claim also frequently made for the Macchi C . 205 Veltro ) but it did not enter production until 1943 . During its short operational service , mostly under the " Repubblica Sociale Italiana " insignia , after the 8 September 1943 armistice , this powerful , robust and fast aircraft proved itself to be an excellent interceptor at high altitude . In 1944 , over Northern Italy , the " Centauro " clashed with British Supermarine Spitfire , P - 51 Mustang , P - 47 Thunderbolt and P - 38 Lightning , proving to be no easy adversary . Italian fighter pilots liked their " Centauro " but by the time the war ended , fewer than 300 had been built . ( This is in comparison with , for example , the 34 , 000 Bf 109s built by the Germans . ) Design and development . By 1939 , all the main Italian aircraft factories had begun designing a new series of fighter , with inline engines as opposed to the radial engines that powered the Italian fighters in early World War II . This process brought to the first generation of Italian fighters equipped with the Italian - built copy of the Daimler - Benz DB 601 engine , the so - called " Serie " 1 / 2 , whose most prominent representative was the Macchi C . 202 " Folgore " . However , the process didn ' t stop , and already in 1941 , designers shifted their attention on the new Daimler - Benz DB 605 . Fiat designer Giuseppe Gabrielli , while experimenting a new version of his Fiat G . 50 fighter , equipped with the DB 601 , started a new design that was to be powered by the Daimler - Benz DB 605 . The first G . 55 prototype flew on 30 April 1942 , piloted by commander Valentino Cus , immediately showing its good performance and flight characteristics . It was armed with one 20 mm MG 151 / 20 cannon , installed in the hub with 200 rounds , and four 12 . 7 mm ( . 5 in ) Breda - SAFAT machine gun s , two in the upper engine cowling and two in the lower part , with 300 rpg , in " " Sottoserie " O " airframes . This layout soon proved to be troublesome , both for rearming and for the servicing of the lower cowling mounted machine guns : for this reason , the two lower machine guns were removed , and replaced with a 20 mm MG 151 / 20 in each wing , in the later production series , the " Serie " 1 . The prototype flew to Guidonia , where it was put into trials against the other fighters of the so - called " Serie " 5 Macchi C . 205 V " Veltro " and the formidable Reggiane Re . 2005 " Sagittario " , all of them built around the powerful Daimler - Benz DB 605 engine . The trials showed that the " Centauro " was the 2nd best performer overall , and it won the tender set by the " Regia Aeronautica " . The C . 205V was good at low and medium altitudes , fast and with good diving characteristics but its performance dropped considerably over 8 , 000 m ( 26 , 250 ft ) , particularly in handling . The Re . 2005 was the fastest at high altitudes and best in dogfights , but suffered from a vibration which turned out to be a balance problem , this was corrected , but was still the most time consuming and technically advanced of the three to produce . The G . 55 was chosen for mass production . The G . 55 prototype reached 620 km / h ( 390 mph ) full loaded without WEP ( war emergency power ) , at 7 , 000 m ( 22 , 970 ft ) , a little less than expected , but had a strong airframe and was the best one regarding handling and stability at every altitude . The only negative assessment noted by G . 55 pilots was the pronounced left - hand yawing at takeoff . This was partially remedied by a slight offset positioning of the vertical stabilizer to counteract engine torque . By early 1943 , increased Allied bombing raids over Italy had showed that there was no suitable high - altitude fighter to deal with them effectively . The Macchi C . 202 ' s performance decreased above 8 , 000 m ( 26 , 250 ft ) , the typical altitude of the bomber s and the MC . 202 ' s armament of two 12 . 7 mm ( . 5 in ) machine guns was hardly adequate to bring down large bombers . Of the " Serie " 5 fighters , the " Centauro " showed the best high - altitude performance , due to its large wing surface area . Also its powerful armament , along with the generous ammunition supply ( the G . 55 had 250 rounds of 20 mm ammunition in the hub cannon as opposed to 120 rounds in the Re . 2005 ) standardized in the production " Serie " I , was enough to bring down the US bombers . The " Regia Aeronautica " commissioned the production of 1 , 800 G . 55s , later raising that number to 2 , 400 . A pre - production series of 34 examples was ordered : these aircraft were mostly based on the prototype , with minor changes to improve its flying characteristics . They had a different weapon layout , as stated above , with the two lower cowling machine guns moved into the wings . Only 19 of the 34 commissioned aircraft were built , and six of them were converted to the " Serie " I standard at the factory . The production version , named " Serie " I , had the standard armament of three 20 mm MG 151 / 20s and two 12 . 7 mm ( . 5 in ) Breda - SAFAT machine guns , plus two underwing racks to bring either two bombs ( up to 160 kg / 350 lb ) or two drop tanks ( 100 L / 26 US Gal ) . At the date of the Armistice , 8 September 1943 , 35 G . 55s of all Series had been delivered , including three prototypes . Of these , only one was flown to South Italy to join the Italian Co - Belligerent Air Force ( a second G . 55 , MM . 91150 , was obtained by the Allies in summer 1944 , when test pilot , Serafino Agostini , defected with an escaped British POW , an RAF captain sitting on his knees . The aircraft was then taken on charge by the RAF and transferred to the Central Fighter Establishment of Tangmere , Great Britain , on 17 March 1945 , with the number VF204 applied , was put in the depot at Ford , then nothing was known anymore of it . ) From that date on , the " Centauro " served with the " Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana " ( ANR ) , the air force of the fascist state created by Mussolini with the Germans ' help in North Italy . It still not exactly known how many " Centauros " were eventually requisitioned by the " Luftwaffe " or those acquired by ANR . About 18 aircraft were expropriated by the ANR while 12 - 20 ( but according to some official reports , 42 ) were requisitioned by the Germans . The Fiat factory , in Turin under German control , continued production for about six months and when on on 25 April 1944 , Fiat factories were heavily bombed ( 15 G . 55s were destroyed with some three - engined transport G . 12s , BR . 20 bombers and CR . 42LWs ordered by the Luftwaffe ) , 164 " Centauros " had been completed , 97 of them being produced after the Armistice and delivered to ANR . Following the advice of Rustungs und Kriegsproduktion Stab ( RuK ) , the German Control Commission , production was dispersed in small cities of Monferrato and production of parts were assigned to CANSA of Novara and AVIA in Vercelli . The parts were then assembled in Turin where the aircraft were to be flown by test pilots Valentino Cus , Rolandi , Agostini and Catella . Production slowed markedly , and was stopped by the German authorities in September 1944 . A total of 148 G . 55s were delivered to the ANR and , when the factory was captured , 37 more examples were ready , while 73 were still on the production line , in various degrees of completion . Operational history . The first Centauro to see operational use was the third prototype . On 21 March 1943 , the aircraft was assigned to 20° " Gruppo " ( squadron ) , 51° " Stormo " ( wing ) CT , based on Roma - Ciampino , for operational evaluation . In May , the G . 55 followed the unit to Capoterra , near Cagliari having its baptism of fire on 5 June 1943 , against Allied aircraft attacking Sardinia . The two first pre - production series flew , respectively , on 10 April and in May 1943 . In early June they were assigned to " 353 Squadriglia " ( flight ) " CT " based in Foligno , Umbria , were , until August , were transferred nine more aircraft . Pilots were delighted when they began to receive the new fighter in summer 1943 . In June , the first Serie I were assigned to " Gruppo Complementare " of 51° " Stormo " in Foligno , near Perugia , but in July the 11 G . 55 of " Gruppo Complementare " were transferred to 353a " Squadriglia " , that already had in charge the " pre - series " machines , to operate from Roma - Ciampino Sud airfield . The 353a " Squadriglia " , commanded by " Capitano " Egeo Pittoni , flew many missions against the American bomber formation , but the flights were stopped when Rome was declared " Città aperta " ( Open City ) . On 27 August , the " Squadriglie " 351a and 352a left Sardinia and arrived in Foligno to be re - equipped with G . 55 . But at the date of the 8 September the G . 55 had not been delivered yet . During the first week of September , 12 " Centauros " had been assigned to 372a " Squadriglia " of 153° " Gruppo " in Torino - Mirafiori . On 8 September 1943 , the date of Armistice , the " Regia Aeronautica " had received 35 G . 55s . Only one of them flew to southern Italy , accepting the invitation of " Maresciallo d ' Italia " Pietro Badoglio to surrender to Allied forces . ANR service . There still is not exact data about the G . 55 captured by " Luftwaffe " or acquired by " Aeronautica Nazionale Republicana " . About 18 G . 55s were acquired by ANR while 12 - 20 , or even 42 , according to some reports , were requisitioned by the " Luftwaffe " . The " Centauro " entered in service with the ANR ; a decision was made to produce 500 G . 55s , of which 300 were G . 55 / I and 200 G . 55 / II " Serie " II , armed with five 20 mm MG 151 / 20s and no machine guns . Only 148 were delivered to the ANR units that , as the number of available G . 55s dwindled , were progressively re - equipped with the Bf 109G , of various sub - versions , even though Italian pilots preferred the G . 55 with cancellation of production being extremely unpopular . The ANR had two " Gruppi Caccia terrestre " ( fighter squadrons ) , the first was initially equipped with the Macchi C . 205 , from November 1943 to May 1944 , then , re - equipped with the G . 55 / I in June 1944 until it switched to the Bf 109G starting from November 1944 . The 2nd " Gruppo " was the main unit equipped with the G . 55 , of which it had 70 examples from December 1943 - August 1944 , before being progressively re - equipped with the Bf 109G . The first unit in ANR to be equipped with G . 55 was the " Squadriglia Montefusco " , in November 1943 , operating from Piemonte until 29 March 1944 , when it was absorbed by the 1st " Gruppo " and transferred in Veneto . The 2nd " Gruppo " was formed at Bresso . It was initially commanded by Lt Col Antonio Vizzoto , and later by Lt Col Aldo Alessandrini . It had three " Squadriglie " ( the 4th , " Gigi Tre Osei " , the 5th , " Diavoli Rossi " , and the 6th , " Gamba di Ferro " ) . The unit operated near Milan and Varese until April 1944 , then it was transferred near Parma and Pavia , then again near the Lake Garda ( Brescia and Verona ) . At the end of May , the 2° " Gruppo " gave its G . 55s to 1° " Gruppo " and re - equipped with 46 exI . / JG 53 and II . JG 77 Bf 109G - 6 / R6 With the ANR , the G . 55s gave a good account of themselves against Allied fighters like the Spitfires and Mustang . German interest . In December 1942 , a technical commission of the " Regia Aeronautica " was invited by the " Luftwaffe " to test some German aircraft in Rechlin . The visit was part of a joint plan for the standardization of the Axis aircraft production . In the same time , some " Luftwaffe " officers visited Guidonia where they were particularly interested in the performance promised by the " Serie " 5 fighters . On 9 December , these impressions were discussed in a " Luftwaffe " staff meeting and raised the interest of Hermann Göring himself . In February 1943 , a German test commission was sent in Italy to evaluate the new Italian fighters . The commission was led by " Oberst " Petersen and was formed by " Luftwaffe " officers and pilots and by technical personnel , among them the " Flugbaumeister " Malz . The Germans also brought with them several aircraft including a Fw 190 A - 5 and a Bf 109 G - 4 for direct comparison tests in simulated dogfights . The tests began 20 February 1943 with the German commission very impressed by the Italian aircraft , the G . 55 in particular . In general , all the " Serie " 5 fighters were very good at low altitudes , but the G . 55 was also competitive with its German opponents in term of speed and climb rate at high altitudes still maintaining superior handling characteristics . The definitive evaluation by the German commission was " excellent " for the G . 55 , " excellent " for the Re . 2005 but very complicated to produce and " average " for the C . 205 . " Oberst " Petersen defined the G . 55 " the best fighter in the Axis " and immediately telegraphed his impressions to Goering . After listening the recommendations of Petersen , Milch and Galland , a meeting held by Goering on 22 February 1943 voted to produce the G . 55 in Germany . German interest , apart from the good test results , derived also from the development possibilities they were able to see in the G . 55 and in the Re . 2005 . Particularly , the G . 55 was bigger and heavier and was considered a very good candidate for the new DB 603 engine , which was considered too large for the Bf 109 ' s airframe . Other visits were organized in Germany during March and May 1943 in Rechlin and Berlin . The G . 55 was again tested at Rechlin at the presence of Milch . Gabrielli and other FIAT personnel were invited to visit German factories and to discuss the evolution of the aircraft . The specifications of the German G55 / II included the DB 603 engine , five 20 mm guns and a pressurized cockpit . The suggestion of weapons in the wings , limited to one 20 mm gun for each wing , originated the final configuration of the " Serie " I , while the DB 603 engine was successfully installed in the what became the G . 56 prototype . As a concrete results of the German interest in the G . 55 , the " Luftwaffe " acquired three complete G . 55 / 0 airframes ( MM 91064 - 65 - 66 ) for evaluations and experiments providing three DB 603 engines and original machinery for the setup of other production line of the Italian copy of DB 605 . Two of the " Luftwaffe " G . 55s remained in Turin , at the " Aeritalia " plants , where they were used by German and Italian engineers to study the planned modifications and the possible optimizations to the production process . Later these two were converted to Serie I and delivered to the ANR . The third one was transferred to Rechlin for tests and experiments in Germany . The DB 603 engines were used to build the G . 56 prototypes . The interest in the G . 55 program was still high after the Armistice . In October 1943 , Kurt Tank , who previously personally tested a G . 55 in Rechlin , having nothing but praise for the aircraft , was in Turin to discuss G . 55 production . However , war events and the not yet optimized production process were the reasons for which the G . 55 program was eventually abandoned by the " Luftwaffe " . Early production of G . 55 required about 15 , 000 man - hour s ; while there were estimations to reduce the effort to about 9 , 000 man - hours , the German factories were able to assemble a Bf 109 in only 5 , 000 man - hours . The DB 603 were instead to be used in Tank ' s own Ta - 152 C . Torpedo fighter . The " Regia Aeronautica " employed torpedo bomber with success in the early war years , with the three - engine , SIAI - Marchetti SM . 79 " Sparviero " medium bomber inflicting considerable losses on Allied shipping in the Mediterranean Sea . By late 1942 the aging " Sparviero " was facing continually improving Allied fighters and anti aircraft defences . leading to the General staff exploring the idea of using a fighter aircraft for torpedo attacks . A fighter operating from Italian coasts with an operational range of 300 – 400 km ( 190 - 250 mi ) , would be capable of delivering a torpedo at high speed and evade enemy fighters or engage them after the attack run . Fiat was asked to begin studies for a G . 55 conversion to carry a 680 kg ( 1 , 500 lb ) Whitehead torpedo , a shorter and more compact version of the standard weapon used by the SM . 79 . With the decision to develop a G . 57 , whose specifications included the capability of carrying torpedoes , all similar work on the G . 55 torpedo fighter was suspended . Later , after the G . 57 project was dropped , and given the ANR ' s continuing need for an aircraft that could replace the SM . 79 , the ANR engineers undertook the task of converting the " Centauro " for the torpedo attack role . A production aircraft ( military serial number " MM . 91086 " ) was modified to carry a 920 kg ( 2 , 030 lb ) , 5 . 46 m ( 17 . 91 ft ) long torpedo . The radiator for the engine liquid cooler , positioned in the fuselage belly , under the cockpit area , was split in two , gaining a 90 cm ( 35 in ) slot where two racks were mounted to carry the torpedo . The tailwheel strut was lengthened and equipped with a strengthened shock absorber , and a protective cone was added in front of the tailwheel . The two 12 . 7 mm ( . 5 in ) Breda - SAFAT machine guns were removed , leaving the aircraft with the three 20 mm cannons only as fixed armament . Weight : 2 , 600 - 4 , 100 kg The aircraft , designated G . 55S , first flew in August 1944 and was successfully tested in January 1945 , piloted by Adriano Mantelli . Despite the cumbersome external load , performance was good and the handling acceptable . The ANR ordered a pre - series of 10 examples and a production series of 100 aircraft , but the conclusion of the war put an end to the project . The G . 55S prototype survived the war and , after being converted back to the " Serie " I standard , it became the first G . 55 to be delivered to the newly formed " Aeronautica Militare Italiana " ( AMI ) . Fiat G . 56 . The Fiat G . 56 was basically a Fiat G . 55 with a German Daimler - Benz DB 603 engine . Two prototypes were built , flight tests starting in March 1944 . On 30 March , Commander Valentino Cus reached speeds of 690 / 700 km / h ( 430 / 440 mph ) . Official maximum speed was 685 km / h ( 426 mph ) and the aircraft was armed with three 20 mm MG 151 / 20s , one firing through the propeller hub , the other two installed in the wings . While performance was excellent , the aircraft proving superior to both the Bf 109K and Bf 109G and Fw 190A , outmanoeuvring all types in testing , production was not allowed by the German authorities . After World War II . In 1946 , Fiat restarted production of the G . 55 , using the large stock of partly complete airframes and components remaining in its factories . It was available in two versions , the G . 55A , a single - seat fighter / advanced trainer , and the G . 55B , a two - seat advanced trainer , whose prototypes flew on 5 September 1946 and 12 February 1946 respectively . The AMI acquired 19 G . 55As and 10 G . 55Bs , while the Argentine Air Force purchased 30 G . 55As , and 15 G . 55Bs . G . 59 . The production of these orders for G . 55s for Italy and Argentina caused the available stocks of the Italian licence - built version of the DB 605 engine to run short . As there was still a demand for the aircraft , it was decided to convert the type to use the more readily available Rolls - Royce Merlin engine , with the first conversion flying in early 1948 . The conversion was successful , and the AMI decided to convert its G . 55s to Merlin power , these re - entering service at the Lecce flying school in 1950 as the G . 59 - 1A and G . 59 - 1B ( single - and two - seat versions ) . Syria placed an order for 30 similar aircraft , which by this time , were completely from new production as the stocks of G . 55 components had been exhausted . Of these , 26 were single - seaters ( designated G . 59 - 2A ) and the remaining 4 two - seaters ( G . 59 - 2B ) . A single G . 59 - 2A was acquired by Argentina for evaluation , but no further orders followed from the South American republic . The final versions were the G . 59 - 4A single - seater and G . 59 - 4B two - seater , which were fitted with bubble canopies for improved visibility . 20 G . 59 - 4As and ten G . 59 - 4Bs were purchased by Italy .