Macchi C.200 video will be up in a few mins.

Yes or Si to ore Italian airplanes. Not quite warplane territory but I love the Macchi MC72 and Piaggjo Pc7 Schneider cup contenders. I read (I think!) the MC-72 had backfire problems due to a poor supercharger inlet design compared to the Rolls Royce designs. Great work!

Hello there! I saw the C200 video and enjoyed it very much, as usual with your videos Greg (that's why I became a patreon as of late). I've always loved the Italian fighters, it's just that I know very little about them so I'm all up for more videos on them. Perhaps the Fiat G.55 Centauro? I've always thought it looked very similar to the Macchi 202, but since you've just done a Macchi....just an idea. Looking forward to it! Regards

Great video. I really enjoyed a deep dive into a more obscure aircraft and learning this level of detail about it!

I just watched the MC.200 video and appreciated the effort, as usual. Thank you. Two things come to mind that were not included. First, the "C" in the name is a reference to Mario Castoldi, who was the chief designer. Castoldi was essentially the Italian equivalent to Reginald Mitchell in that he earned his experience with high speed aircraft by designing Schneider Trophy racers, and he had some success with them. The M.39 was trend setting, being a low wing wire braced pontoon design. Mitchell essentially copied the concept when his designs evolved from the Supermarine S.4 to the S.5. The M.39 won the Schneider Trophy and set an absolute speed record. Castoldi also did the famous MC.72, which still holds the absolute speed record for piston powered sea planes. Both of those aircraft were Fiat powered, like the MC.200. Second, the MC.200 had an asymmetrical wingspan with one wing being slightly longer than the other. This was intended to counteract torque. Asymmetry was common on Schneider Trophy racers, which often used pontoons of different sizes as well, and Castoldi used his experience with the racers while designing the fighter.

Really good video Greg, thanks so much! Any chance of a video about the MC72 and it's competitors? I've always seen those planes as the ancestors of what came out in WW2....

I’d love an in-depth look at the major Italian fighters families (Macchi, Fiat, Reggiane) and in what respects they were similar or different. Italian industrial policy was a mess and producing these three in parallel made so little sense… And a look at the SAI-Ambrosini light fighters, the 207 and 403, would be a nice bonus, if I am not yet greedy enough!

Good video, buddy. 1: Dogfighting with an open cockpit, or even just an open canopy also gives you a "poor-man's-HUD" in that you can have your head and shoulders twisted around looking for the bandit, and have a good sense of airspeed decay from the change in the sound and buffeting _without_ having to go back inside the cockpit (heads-down) and look at your airspeed indicator. (Lose sight, lose fight, and all that.) (I learned the canopy open trick from my grandfather, a WW2 naval aviator.) b. How many inches of mercury would you feel comfortable putting into a WW2 Fiat engine? That tightly cowled set-up that Macchi came up with would give the intrepid aviator a good visual indication of when the engine started throwing jugs by the extra lumps suddenly appearing in the cowling. Limiting the manifold pressure was probably a Good Thing . The French also ordered Hawk 75's with what we would call "reverse-operating" throttles. I always assumed that was just a French-thing, but it is interesting to see that Macchi did this, too. III. There never was an organization called na-kah. It was pronounced en-ay-cee-ay . Its successor organization is, indeed, correctly called by the acronym na-ess-ah, but no one _ever_ called the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics na-kah while it was operating. To pronounce it as na-kah is, at best, anachronistic. As always, good material, sir.

If you like a plane, I'm sure your patrons will also. Bring them on!

Outstanding Greg. Informative, well organized and beautiful pictures. I, for one, would enjoy more Italian aircraft deep dives, including thier bombers, which while not good at bombing sure were beautiful aircraft. French aircraft would be interesting also. Thank you, and job well done!!!

Great job Greg. Please continue with the upgraded inline versions they were assassins in a good pilots hands. God help a p40 in a low altitude dog fight. The p51 also would have some problems

Any and all planes are fine by me. I believe that all-things Italian in WWII get a bum rap due to (WWII) British anti-Italian/Fascist propaganda.

Yeeeeeeeeesssss. 😁😁😁

Yes please more Italian planes, the same insight you gave into Japenese planes and designs is most welcome.

It’s similar but if the C205 isn’t included in this one a followup on it would be nice. I occasionally fly both of them in the game/sim I partake in.