While everybody is distracted with the submarines, i finished the Fiat Br.20.
The Fiat Br.20 was a medium bomber produced from the mid 30s. It entered into service in 1936 and it had the honour to be the first Italian all metal bomber. At his time it was considered as one of the best bombers in the world. It saw its baptism of fire in the Spanish civil war, in 1937 and constituted the backbone of the nationalist bomber force, together with the Heinkel He.111. It was also used by the Japanese during the second Sino-Japanese war and through all the world war 2.
When it served with Italy, by 1942 it was starting to be seriously outdated, despite of having been the standard Italian bomber of those years, that's why, from that year on, it was relegated to secondary duties.
Six versions of this airplane were made:
- -BR.20 Initial production model, 233 built
-BR.20A: De-militarised conversion of two BR.20s for air racing.
-BR.20L: Long ranged civil version, one built.
-BR.20M: Improved bomber version with lengthened nose, 264 produced
-BR.20C: Single aircraft converted by Agusta fitted with 37 mm (1.46 in) cannon in revised nose. Not drawn because i couldn't find any blueprints or any photo of it.**
-BR.20bis: Major re-design with more powerful engines (two Fiat A.82 RC.42 rated at 932 kW/1,250 hp each), increased dimensions and new, fully glazed nose.
Italy, Co-Belligerent Italy, Japan, Nationalist Spain, Venezuela, Nationalist China, Hungary, Fiat Br.20*.
And last, but not least, i'd like to thank eswube for his help on this project.
*Many sources claim that Croatians and the Italian Social Republic also used this airplane during ww2, but i couldn't find even a single photo of this airplane under Croatian or Italian social hands. If anybody have any source, i'd be very grateful.
**Also, if you find any source of this version, please contact me via PM please.