1940s Macchi C.202 Folgore (THUNDERBOLT), One of Only Two in the World! Rev. 2

This  excellent but unheralded Italian fighter aircraft of World war II vintage was billed as the world's only remaining example when I took this (now with revision-middle) photo in 1979 at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. I have subsequently learned from a later 2005 dated reference source that there is just one other Aeronautica Macchi C.202 example in the world. And for a huge thanks to A-D member Pete Hughes, I can now display the second Aeronautica Macchi C.202 Folgore, number MM9667 shown just above. Thank you, Pete! for a wonderful photo taken in 2004 at the superb Vigna di Valle Museum near Rome, Italy. I thank you too Pete, for contacting me about your great find and your offer to have it included in my article here. So, the readers and viewers can now see both examples of the only two remaining Macchi C.202s left in the world. Fortunately, they both are restored for present and future generations to see and enjoy. Pete's photo shows a different camouflage scheme on an interesting floor display much more readily available to the fortunate museum viewer than the American NASM hanging display of MM9476. With Italy's public display of their prize fighter aircraft of World war II, I must recant and state the Macchi C.202 is no longer unheralded. Italy has offered a fine tribute to its own aircraft.

The Macchi C.202 Folgore (Thunderbolt)-not to be confused with the American Republic P-47 Thunderbolt-  is said to have been one of the most effective early fighters in World War II and was the best Italian Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) fighter of that war. The Italian Thunderbolt was derived from the Macchi M.C.200 Saetta (Lightning) using its wings and tail design with a new slender fuselage mated to the Daimler-Benz DB-601 inverted V-12 liquid-cooled engine of 1,175 horsepower. The first early Macchi C.202s were fitted with the imported German engine. When the DB-601 was no longer available to Italy's Aeronautica Macchi Company, the license-built ALFA Romeo RA.1000 RC 41-1 version of the DB-601A engine was used in the rest of the constructed Thunderbolts, which numbered between 1,150 and 1,200 aircraft. Now, only two Macchi C.202 Thunderbolts survive.

First flight testing in August 1940 showed the C.202 almost 60 miles per hour faster than the radial engine-powered Macchi M.C.200 Saetta. The C.202 Thunderbolts deployed to Libya in 1941 against British Royal Air Force aircraft were superior in performance  by substantial numbers to the Hawker Hurricane  and also to the American Curtiss P-40. The C.202 in fact outperformed every fighter it went against except for the superiority of the British Supermarine Spitfire and the North American Aviation P-51 Mustang.

By late 1942 the Macchi Thunderbolt outnumbered all other fighters in the Regia Aeronautica. Germany, allied with Italy in World War II, also operated limited numbers of C.202 Thunderbolts. Unusual is the fact the left wing of the Thunderbolt is 8 and 3/8ths inch longer than the span of the right wing to combat the engine's torque. Few aircraft designs have ever used this assymetrical method to counteract rotational torque to assist pilot control of a powerful aircraft.

The early history of the Series IX MM9476 photographed aircraft is obscure, except it is one of the enemy aircraft captured intact and brought to America in World War II to study at the US Army's Air Technical Command at Wright and Freeman airfields, and subsequently stored. The aircraft was restored to museum exhibit condition by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum aircraft craftsmen in 1975. Without record of its original unit markings, the aircraft was marked with the colors of the 40 Stormo 10 Gruppo 90 Squadriglia when that unit was operating in Libya in 1942. The camouflage pattern is light sand with olive-green patches. Positive identification of the aircraft's series is thought to be somewhere between Series VI and IX, so Series IX was selected. The arbitrary serial number MM9476 falls within this series. I apologize for the poor condition of my old color print that was scanned into the A-D site and the difficult access to photograph this aircraft. Each photo I have seen of MM9476 is hampered by the difficult access to this hanging display aircraft sited above a P-51D Mustang.

Interestingly, Macchi C.202 Thunderbolts were used after 1943 by a small Italian Co-Belligerant Air Force that operated from the time of the Italian armistice to VE (Victory in Europe) day in May 1945. The last use of the Macchi C.202 was in the service of the Egyptian Air Force, again in North Africa.

I want to extend a huge thanks to Timothy Aanerud for hitting yet another home run for me as "designated hitter" in offering two of his pictures of the NASM Macchi C.202 Folgore that are newer and far better than mine. I have placed one of his photos at the top as it shows the airplane much better than mine. You may access his other photo of the Macchi C.202 on his Home Page under Military Piston/Fighter.

Please click on EITHER photo above to see the MM9476 aircraft page with more photo text. 

First Flight: 10 August 1940 

Specifications: 

Power: one ALFA Romeo RA 1000 RC 41-1 (license-built DB-601A) inverted liquid-cooled V-12 piston engine of 1,175 Hp

Wingspan: 34ft 8.5in (10.58m)

Wing Area: 180.84sq ft (16.8sq m)

Wing Loading: 36.7lb/sq ft

Power Loading: 5.65lb/Hp

Length: 29ft 0.5in (8.85m)

Height: 9ft 11.5in (3.04m)

Weight: Empty 5,181lb (2,359kg)

            Max takeoff 6,636lb (3,010kg)

Performance: 

Max speed: 370 mph (595kph)

Rate of climb: 9,840ft in 2 min 28 sec (3,000m)

Range:475 mi (765km)

Armament: 

Two 0.5in (12.7mm) synchronized firing machine guns in engine cowling