Firing test of the first prototype (MM.494) of the Reggiane Re.2005 “Sagittario” (Sagittarius) on Furbara’s Firing Test Range (few km North of Rome, in front to Tyrrhenian’s coast), end March 1943. Last of the Italian fighters Series 5, the other are Macchi MC.205 “Veltro” and Fiat G.55 “Centauro”, all designed around the German engine Daimler-Benz DB.605, the “Sagittario” were armed with three Mauser 20mm cannons (two wing-mounted, one inside the engine firing through the propeller’s hub) and two Breda-SAFAT 12.7mm upon the engine cowling synchronized with propeller’s blades. Victor Sierra

Firing test

An Italian serviceman posed over the right wing of a Fiat G.55 “Centauro” (Centaur) likely of the ANR-Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (National Republican Air Force), the air force of the German allied Repubblica Sociale Italiana established by Mussolini on October 1943. The picture highlight one of two wing-mounted Mauser 20 mm cannon, adopted by the G.55 Serie 1 (Series One), as well the housing of the two Breda-Safat 12.7mm over the engine cowling and synchronized with the propeller’s blades. Victor Sierra

The weapons of the “Centauro”

Taken jus before leaving for the front- c. 1915