Breda Ba.27M, the italian pea-shooter

MuccoPazzino · May 9, 2024, 9:24pm

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On the morning of April 22nd, the famous American aviator Frank M. Hawks, aboard a single-seater American aircraft known as the “Texaco” and powered by a 425-horsepower Wright radial engine, took off from London at 6:26 and landed at 11:55 at the Centocelle airport in Rome, covering approximately 1,500 kilometers in a straight line in 5.5 hours.

The flight sparked widespread enthusiasm all over the worl, and Herb Rawdon and Walter Burnham’s idea inspired several monoplane fighters concepts in the 1930s.
Of course the Italian airforce couldn’t sit back and just watch, so the Breda Ba.27 was born.

The first prototypes had big problems, mostly violent shakes during banks, and this problem was fixed by changing the propeller.
The aircraft was still not good enough and so it was evolved into the “Breda Ba.27 Metallico”.

The Breda Ba.27M, a single-engined monoplane fighter, took to the skies for the first time in 1933, marking a significant milestone as the inaugural monoplane fighter crafted for the Regia Aeronautica. Featuring a mixed construction, the aircraft boasted a steel tube frame, metal fuselage skin, and wooden wings and tailplane. Sporting an open cockpit and fixed landing gear, it was armed with two 7.7mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns.

The Breda 27 metallico had a short fame only, one plane was in fact produced, and was assigned to the 86a Sq., of the “7o Gruppo del 5o Stormo Assalto”. Retired in 1938.

However, the Ba.27M’s narrative took an unexpected turn. The Republic of China placed an order for 18 aircraft of this type to bolster their defenses against Japanese aggression during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Although uncertainties shroud the records, it’s believed that 11 of these aircraft were eventually delivered and potentially saw action in the conflict.

With a total of 14 units built, the Breda Ba.27M offers great potential as a formidable reserve aircraft for Italy.

Specifiations

The specifications of the Breda Ba.27 are as follows: