What is this thing?

[71st_AH_Hooves]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a79_1385913076

 

 

its like a Hurri-Fire-Maichi  

[Sternjaeger]

it's a Reggiane Re.2001, great little plane.

[No.401_Wolverine]

That's one of the aircraft that used the Daimler benz engines that Germany gave them, isn't it?

[Pierre64]

That's one of the aircraft that used the Daimler benz engines that Germany gave them, isn't it?

More exactly the italian version, namely the R.A. "Monsone" 1000 built under license by Alfa Romeo.

[71st_AH_Hooves]

well it looks cool, Im surprised Ive never seen it before.  where did it serve?? Now that I look at it I can see that 109 front end, wings of a P-47, and the body shape of a Hurricane.  A frankenplane!

Edited December 1, 2013 by SYN_Hooves

[Sternjaeger]

yep, albeit a very small batch of the original DB601s was used with them.

[Creepermoss]

"Frankenplane" made me think of the EKW C-36 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EKW_C-36

 

 

Kind of looks like the bastard child of a Bf110 and a spitfire, to me.

[-MG-Cacti4-6]

if a bf 110 and a spit had an illegitimate love child.....

[Sternjaeger]

well it looks cool, Im surprised Ive never seen it before.  where did it serve?? Now that I look at it I can see that 109 front end, wings of a P-47, and the body shape of a Hurricane.  A frankenplane!

 

in a way it is a bit of a frankenplane actually: if you look carefully, the design from the firewall to the tail is shared with the P-35. The story is quite unclear as who copied who, but the two planes share a lot (even more so with the Reggiane 2000, which, like the P-35, had a radial engine).

 

The Re.2001 entered service in 1941 and served mainly over Malta, Sicily, the rest of Italy and over the Balkans: it was quite a versatile machine, which could be used as a fighter or light bomber, and according to the pilots quite an enjoyable one to fly, but later in the war it was afflicted by the lack of spares and of course performance, which would have been good until 1942, but didn't do much after that, if anything for air superiority.

 

The Reggiane family saw then the introduction of the Reggiane 2005, considered by many a classic example of "too little, too late", but which, together with the Fiat G.55, was among the best fighter aircraft of WW2.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Sternjaeger

[II./JG27_Rich]

Italy just didn't have the capacity to produce many I guess.

[Sternjaeger]

Italy just didn't have the capacity to produce many I guess.

 

that's right, together with corruption and dispersion of resources. Cr.42s for example were kept into production for far too long, even if it was obvious that they were obsolete even when the war started. 

[Cybermat47]

Kind of looks like the bastard child of a Bf110 and a spitfire, to me.

Definitely.

[Kappone]

The italian Reggiane 2005 ( evolution of the 2001)  could be probably one of the best WWII fighters, but was produced in only few exemplars ( more or less 30), the regime 

thought be better to fight with "modern" fiat cr 42....

[Feathered_IV]

The 2001 is a beautiful thing.