One more before FD airplanes 11!
The IMAM Ro.57 was a twin engined good looking fighter serving in the Italian Regia Aeronautica. Designed in 1939 by Giovanni Galasso it wasn't produced until 1943 and by then was already considered obsolete.
Two hundred airplanes were ordered but only fifty of them were completed before the Italian armistice in septembre 1943.
It had two versions, both of them powered by a FIAT A.74 engine (the same one that the Cr.42 had).
- Ro.57: Long range/High speed fighter-bomber: The original design. It was equipped with two 12.7mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns in the front part of the fuselage and had also a hardpoint for a 500kg bomb behind the cockpit.
Ro.57bis: Pure CAS version: It was equipped with the original 12.7mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns in the front part of the fuselage as well as two aditional harpoints underwings for 250kg bombs. Some sub-versions were also equipped with two adittional 20mm cannons in the nose.
In retrospective, this airplane could have been the long range fighter bomber that Italy lacked through the war but ir prooved to be too costly for the Italian war machinery and due to the Italian aerial doctrines, its role was never clear enough. However it's said that it could be comparable to another two engined fighter designed in the late 30s, the Westland Whirlwind.
Thanks to Eswube for his help reviewing this one.
Italy, IMAM Ro.57