It was a singular aircraft, being obsolescent as a fighter when it first appeared in 1934, but despite this it was used as such until 1940. The Luftwaffe showed an interest in it as a trainer, even though German first line fighters were completely different. The Ro.41 is almost unknown, compared to many other Italian aircraft, despite being one of the most numerous produced, in its 16-year career.
Development
The IMAM Ro.41 had its origins in the aircraft division of OFM (Officine Ferroviarie Meridionali). In 1929 Alessandro Tonini, the chief designer, had serious health problems and was replaced by Giovanni Galasso. This company, based in Naples, was taken over by Breda in 1935, and so Galasso's new aircraft designs received the IMAM designation of this company. One of the first was the Ro.41, flight tested by Niccolò Lana at Capodichino airfield on 16 June 1934.
The first prototype was fitted with a Piaggio P.VII engine, and showed itself to be very agile, with excellent climb performance, and no noticeable vices. The second prototype, MM.281, was tested 31 January 1935, and taken on strength with the Regia Aeronautica.
The third prototype had a Piaggio P.VII C.45 with two-stage compressor, giving 390hp at 4,000 m. This was the definitive version of this aircraft, and fifty aircraft, numbers MM.2907-2956, were ordered. This first series was put in service in July 1935.
Design
A sesquiplane (i.e. a biplane with the lower wing smaller than the upper), the Ro.41 was of mixed construction, the fuselage of chrome-molybdenum steel frame, covered in fabric. Duralumin covered the bottom and upper fuselage, and also the engine cowling. The wings were made of wood covered with fabric. There was a fixed undercarriage.
The engine gave a theoretical 425hp at ground level, 450hp at 1,500 m, and 390hp at 4,500 m, although it was much less in practice. The reliability was very good. A 176-litre fuel tank was inside the fuselage, near the engine, together with a 20-litre oil tank. The propeller was two-bladed and made of wood, later replaced by a metal two-blade model.
Armament, when fitted, consisted of two 7.7mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns mounted inside the fuselage, with 850 cartridges.
Performance
This aircraft was designed as a fighter, but was underpowered even by mid-1930s standards. It resembled a small I-15, and was fairly agile. On tests it was able to reach an altitude of 1,000 metres in 1 minutes 32 seconds, 3,000 m in 3 min 47 sec, and 5,000 m in 7 min 34 sec, which was a much better climb rate than the standard Italian fighter, the Fiat CR.32 (3,000 m in 5 min 10 sec). It was also more manoeuvrable than the CR.32, and cost significantly less. However, a top speed of only 320km/h was far too slow to make the Ro.41 a credible fighter, and the CR.32 had a better range, a better dive performance, was more heavily armed, and was already in service.
Operational service
The Ro.41 found a role as a trainer aircraft, for which it was well-suited, and a series of 30 two-seat aircraft first flew in 1937. The Ro.41 replaced the Breda Ba.25, and soon another 264 single-seat and 66 two-seat models were ordered.
The Ro.41 was also proposed as light fighter. Twenty-eight were sent to Spain where, thanks to their high rate of climb, they acted as point-defence interceptors around Seville, though it appears that they did not score any victories.
It served in 5 and 50 Wing as a fighter bomber, before the Breda Ba.65 arrived. XVI Gruppo, 50 Stormo, had all its three squadrons equipped with Ro.41s. 163 Sqn was sent to Rodi and used the Ro.41 as a fighter until 1940. Twelve Ro.41s served with 160 Gruppo in 1939 and were used as first line fighters, though the Gruppo was based on CR.32s and CR.42s. From 10 August 1940 four Ro.41s of 159 Sqn, 12 Gruppo, 50 Assault Wing were flown from Tobruk as night fighters.
In its limited career as first line fighter the Ro.41 did not achieve any victories, and it is unlikely that it was ever involved in any air-combats. By this time even the CR.32 and CR.42s were obsolete, and the Ro.41s were only a stop-gap measure. Their real task was advanced training and despite the obsolete design they managed to be popular, reliable and cheap machines. They were also built by Agusta and AVIS.
The Ro.41bis, with a smaller wing and better performance was tested, but the CR.32 was already available for flying schools, and it was not a success. In September 1938 MM.3786 was sent to Uruguay to display the type, but no orders were placed.
Ro.41s were popular aircraft and for many years first line squadrons and flight schools operated it, until it became obsolete for first line use. One of the few changes was the fitting of a Piaggio P.VII RC.35 engine, that had a single-stage compressor which gave 500hp at low level. Guns were seldom fitted, and two-seat versions had no weapons at all, and also carried less fuel.
Production numbered 726 aircraft by 1943. After the armistice the RSI's Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana operated some aircraft, and the Luftwaffe used them as trainers in Germany and France. Strangely no examples remained in Southern Italy, perhaps because flight schools, like Castiglione del Lago airfield, were in the central and northern Italy. Five ANR aircraft survived the war.
The Ro.41 was the first post-war aircraft to enter production when an order was sent to Agusta for 15 new aircraft (5 single and 10 two-seaters) and later ten more (7 single and 3 two-seaters). These aircraft had a wooden propeller, possibly spare parts still in store. They were painted silver, the new standard for Italian aircraft, instead of camouflage colours. Three of these machines formed the first acrobatic team of the Aeronautica Militare in 1947 at Padua. These aircraft were flown until 1950.
The Macchi C.202 Folgore was an Italian fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by Macchi Aeronautica. It was operated mainly by the Regia Aeronautica in and around the Second World War. According to aviation author David Mondey, the Folgore has been considered to be one of the best wartime fighters to serve in large numbers with the Regia Aeronautica.
The Fiat CR.32 was an Italian biplane fighter used in the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. Designed by the aeronautical engineer Celestino Rosatelli, it was a compact, robust and highly manoeuvrable aircraft for its era, leading to it being a relatively popular fighter during the 1930s.
The Breda Ba.88 Lince ("Lynx") was a ground-attack aircraft used by the Italian Regia Aeronautica during World War II. Its streamlined design and retractable undercarriage were advanced for the time, and after its debut in 1937 the aircraft established several world speed records. However, when military equipment was installed on production examples, problems of instability developed and the aeroplane's general performance deteriorated. Eventually its operational career was cut short, and the remaining Ba.88 airframes were used as fixed installations on airfields to mislead enemy reconnaissance. It represented, perhaps, the most remarkable failure of any operational aircraft to see service in World War II.
The CANT Z.1007 Alcione (Kingfisher) was an Italian three-engined medium bomber, with wooden structure. Designed by Filippo Zappata, who also designed the CANT Z.506 it had "excellent flying characteristics and good stability" and was regarded by some as "the best Italian bomber of World War II" although its wooden structure was easily damaged by the climate, as experienced in North Africa and in Russia. It was used by the Italian Regia Aeronautica, Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana and Luftwaffe during World War II.
The Caproni Ca.133 was a three-engined transport/bomber aircraft used by the Italian Regia Aeronautica from the Second Italo-Abyssinian War until World War II.
Breda-SAFAT was an Italian weapons manufacturer of the 1930s and 1940s that designed and produced a range of machine-guns and cannon primarily for use in aircraft. Based on the M1919 Browning machine gun, the Italian guns were chambered to fire indigenous ammunition with 7.7 mm (0.303 in) and 12.7 mm (0.500 in) calibres, predominantly ball, tracer for the 7.7mm, including high explosive incendiary tracer (HEI-T), or armour-piercing (AP) for the 12.7mm.
The Savoia-Marchetti SM.82 Marsupiale was an Italian bomber and transport aircraft of World War II. It was a cantilever, mid-wing monoplane trimotor with a retractable, tailwheel undercarriage. There were 875 built, the first entering service in 1940. Although able to operate as a bomber with a maximum bombload of up to 8,818 lb (4000 kg), the SM.82 saw very limited use in this role. The SM.82 was the foreign aircraft used in largest number by the Luftwaffe, which operated several hundreds of this aircraft, as a transport. Post-war about 30 SM.82s continued in service with the Aeronautica Militare Italiana, many remaining in service until the early 1960s.
The Fiat CR.25 was an Italian twin-engine reconnaissance-fighter aircraft which served in small numbers for the Regia Aeronautica during World War II.
The Breda Ba.64 was an Italian single-engine ground-attack aircraft used by the Regia Aeronautica during the 1930s.
The Ambrosini SAI.403 Dardo ("Dart") was a light fighter aircraft built in Italy during World War II.
The Meridionali Ro.37 Lince was a two-seater Italian reconnaissance biplane, a product of the Industrie Meccaniche Aeronautiche Meridionali (IMAM) company. It appeared in 1934 and had a composite structure of wood and metal. The aeroplane first saw operational duty in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935–1936) and Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and during the Second World War it saw duty on almost all fronts, except for Russia and the English Channel. It followed the Ro.1 as the main reconnaissance aircraft for the Italian Army.
The CRDA CANT Z.1018 Leone (Lion) was an Italian medium bomber of the 1940s.
The Breda Ba.201 was an Italian dive bomber designed during World War II, that never entered production.
The Caproni Vizzola F.5 was an Italian fighter aircraft that was built by Caproni. It was a single-seat, low-wing cantilever monoplane with retractable landing gear.
The Piaggio P.119 was an Italian experimental fighter of World War II. It had a relatively novel layout, with a "buried" radial engine mounted mid-fuselage. Only a single prototype was built before the Armistice between Italy and the allied armed forces, which ended the project.
The Piaggio P.32 was an Italian medium bomber of the late 1930s, produced by Piaggio, and designed by Giovanni Pegna. It was a modern design for its time, but was a failure due to lack of powerplants commensurate with its high wing loading.
The IMAM Ro.51 was an Italian fighter aircraft that first flew in 1937. It was designed for the 1936 new fighter contest for the Regia Aeronautica, with practically all the Italian aircraft builders involved.
The IMAM Ro.57 was an Italian twin-engined, single-seat monoplane fighter of the Regia Aeronautica. Based on a 1939 design by Giovanni Galasso the aircraft did not enter production until 1943.
The Caproni Ca.355 Tuffo was a low-wing single-engine dive bomber, designed and built by the Italian Caproni company in 1941, which never proceeded beyond a single prototype. Derived from Ca.335 Mistral, the Ca.355 was proposed to equip the Regia Aeronautica, but it was found to offer little advantage over the German Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" and the project was abandoned.
The Caproni CH.1 was a single-seat biplane fighter, a single example of which was produced as a prototype in Italy in 1935.
Passingham, Malcolm (January 1999). "De l'interception à la entraînement: l'I.M.A.M. Meridionali Ro. 41S" [From Interception to Training: the I.M.A.M. Meridonali Ro. 41S]. Avions: Toute l'aéronautique et son histoire (in French) (70): 53–60. ISSN1243-8650.
Vigna, Achille IMAM Ro.41, Storia Militare magazine, May 2003, pp.4–16, Albertelli editions, Parma (in Italian)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to IMAM Ro.41.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
