Reggiane Re.2001 Fighter/Bomber

Reggiane Re.2001
The Italians had two first generation fighters in the war, the Maachi 200 and the Fiat G50, however, the Reggiane 2000 (shown above) was truely unique for 1938. However, the motor did not impress the Regia Aeronautica and they did not purchase the Re2000. So Officine Meccaniche Reggiane SpA (Caproni) developed a variant of it, primarily with the greatly improved Daimler Benz Bd 601 motor, and called it the Re2001. It turned out to be a fine aircraft with good all around characteristics. But it was ill fated. The RA demanded a long series of "improvements" that held back production so that it was not operational until Dec. 1941, and then only 140 were produced by 1942. The basic problem was that most of the German made engines were put into Maachi 202s. Only 237 Re2001s were built. These flew in the fighter/bomber role and later as night fighters, never in their intended role as interceptors.

Technical Details
The Re.2001 was powered by the 1.175 hp Daimler Benz DB601 A-1, 12 cylinder, liquid cooled engine. It has a maximum speed of 349 mph and a ceiling of 36,000 ft. It could range up to 684 miles. It was originally armed with 4 machine guns in the wings, later variants included the CD fighter-bomber and the CN night fighter. The CB usually carried either a 220 lb or 550 lb bomb, although they did carry a 1,412 lb bomb to attack HMS Victorious, unsuccessfully. The CN was armed with two 20 mm cannons instead of machine guns.

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