Military Model Scene

Title: Macchi C.202 Folgore
Author: Davide F. Jabes, Alessandro Romanello and Niccolo Tognarini
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN: 978-1-78155-830-0

'Italy's Best Fighter of the Second World War', a new book from Fonthill Media. A 212-page hardback, though it is also available as an e-book, and a detailed look at the design, development and service history of this stylish Italian fighter of WW2.
It starts with some wider context, and the influences and influencers of the Italian aero industry during the 1920s and '30s. This includes a number of rivalries which impacted the industry in Italy. One tiny detail which struck me was the mention of Mussolini being in control of the country for 20 years, from 1922. There was a good deal of emphasis on promoting Italy and this includes their efforts in the famous Schneider Trophy races, and the Macchi seaplanes had some success over the years as well as being very stylish and advanced airframes. Their designer, Mario Castoldi, went on to design the C.202 Folgore as well. His design is notable for using an inline engine, rather than the radial used in most other Italian fighters of the era, with a German DB 601A engine, and an agreement with Daimler Benz that it could be licence built in Italy by Alfa Romeo. The details of the design and development make for more interesting reading, including the number of hours required to build each individual aircraft. They were very much individually built, across 3 factories, and they took considerably longer than their contemporaries such as the Me 109 or the Spitfire. Hence there is a interesting comparison with the number of aircraft built by the different nations. It goes on to cover the training for Italian fighter pilots, their lack of radios and limited training in navigation and more. This all leads into detail of the Combat history of the Folgore, which includes a lot of personal accounts from pilots, with deployment to Malta, North Africa, Russia and at home in Italy. At the end, an assessment of the success of the design, and what happened to many of them after the 1943 armistice.
I found this to be a really interesting read with the wider context surrounding the design itself and the life story of this famous Italian fighter. Some of the detail I found quite surprising, particularly in respect to the policies of the Regia Aeronautica and the training provided to their pilots, or rather the lack of training guidance. Super read I felt.
Thanks to Fonthill Media for our copy.

Robin