Macchi M.C. 200 “Saetta”

The Macchi M.C. 200 "Saetta", designed by the famous engineer Mario Castoldi, represented a significant evolution in the production of Italian fighter aircraft. Compared to the Fiat CR 32 and Fiat CR 42 biplanes, which still constituted the backbone of Italian fighter squadrons at the beginning of the Second World War, the Macchi M.C. 200 was characterized, together with its contemporary Fiat G50, by a low-wing configuration and an all-metal structure. It made its first flight on 24 December 1937 and entered service in 1939; although equipped with a low-powered engine and armed only with a pair of 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns (in the latest versions two 7.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns were added to the wings), the Saetta's design was very valid. From Italy's entry into the war on June 10, 1940, to the armistice of 1943, the Saetta carried out more operational missions than any other Italian aircraft. The Macchi M.C.200 had no particular defects and was equipped with excellent capabilities for close combat; in fact, its handling was excellent and its stability, in high-speed dives, exceptional. With the insignia of the Regia Aeronautica, it operated on almost all fronts of the Second World War, from the Mediterranean Sea to Africa, the Balkans and on the Eastern Front. An Independent Group operated in Russia where it obtained an excellent kill/loss ratio of 88 to 15.