Italian Forces

First MC.200s in combat service

Trapani, Sicily, August 1940. An Italian fighter pilot boarding on Macchi MC.200 “Saetta” of 1st Stormo “Arciere” (“Archer”). The aircraft is a MC.200 First Series with enclosed cockpit and sliding canopy, a solution not loved by pilots accustomed to open cockpit and which encountered some difficulties to open the canopy in case of emergency. The 1st Stormo was of-fact the first unit of the Regia Aeronautica exploiting the “Saetta” in true war missions of the war after a first series of changes to airframe for resolve many of troubles encountered after the entry into the service of new fighter. Like the adoption of a new airfoil for correct the tendency to entry in autorotation and the difficult for recovery from the spin, cause of many serious accidents. Victor Sierra