| Ro.51 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Role | Fighter |
| Manufacturer | IMAM |
| First flight | 1937 |
| Status | Prototype |
| Number built | 2 |
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 aircraft, designed by the engineer Galasso, was a single-seat, monoplane fighter, of mixed construction (the wings were made of wood), and initially with a fixed undercarriage.
The engine was standard for this generation of fighters, an 840 hp (630 kW) Fiat A.74 RC 38 radial powering a three-blade propeller.
The fixed undercarriage limited the maximum speed to only 467 km/h. It was armed with two Breda-SAFAT 12.7 mm machine guns.
In June 1938 the first prototype, initially fitted with a very small tail, was tested and found inferior to the Macchi C.200 and Fiat G.50. It was overall a poor aircraft. The trials to re-engineer the wing came too late and no orders were made.
The second prototype Ro.51/1, was converted into a fighter floatplane. Like the Ro.44 it had a large central float and two smaller ones under the wings. The maximum speed dropped to 430 km/h, but endurance was increased to 1,200 km.
Unfortunately during a trial one of the wings suddenly sank in the water. The rest of the aircraft swiftly followed, and the loss of this prototype meant the end of the program. Although performance was apparently fairly good, the project was overall a failure, especially in the early aspects, even if it was not too different from the Fokker D.XXI. But with so many other superior machines also involved, waiting for the problems the Ro.51 had to be fixed was not an option.
Kingdom of Italy Data from The Complete Book of Fighters, [1] Italian Civil and Military Aircraft 1930-1945, [2] airwar.ru : IMAM Ro.51 [3]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Related lists
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 AUT.18 was a prototype fighter aircraft developed in Italy by Aeronautica Umbra shortly before the outbreak of World War II. It was designed in 1934 by Felice Trojani, who at that time was collaborating with Umberto Nobile on the Arctic flights of the airships Norge and Italia. The aircraft's designation came from initials of the manufacturer, the surname of the designer, and the aircraft's wing area, the sole prototype receiving the serial no. M.M.363.
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 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 Breda Ba.27 was a fighter produced in Italy in the 1930s, used by the Chinese Nationalist Air Force in the Second Sino-Japanese War.
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 IMAM Ro.41 was an Italian light biplane fighter aircraft, serving in the Regia Aeronautica in the 1930s-1940s, mainly as a trainer.
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.311 was a light bomber-reconnaissance aircraft produced in Italy prior to and during World War II.
The Fiat CR.30 was a 1930s Italian single-seat biplane fighter aircraft designed by Celestino Rosatelli and built by Fiat.
The Fokker D.XVI was a sesquiplane fighter aircraft developed in the Netherlands in the late 1920s.
The IMAM Ro.5 was a sport aircraft designed by Alessandro Tonini and produced by IMAM in Italy in the late 1920s.
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.
The Caproni Ca.331 Raffica was an Italian aircraft built by Caproni in the early 1940s as a tactical reconnaissance aircraft/light bomber and also as a night fighter.
The Breda Ba.82 was an Italian medium bomber prototype of the late 1930s; it was designed and built by the Breda company.
The Macchi M.C.77 was a reconnaissance bomber flying boat built by Macchi in the thirties and remained at the prototype stage.
The IMAM Ro.26, sometimes called the Romeo Ro.26, was a single-engine biplane trainer aircraft produced by the Italian aeronautical company IMAM in the early 1930s. Only one example was built.
