- Yes
- No
Welcome to another suggestion, in this one we’ll be looking at the CR.42 Falco in Belgian service.
The story of this Italian origin aircraft in Belgian service starts very briefly before world war 2. The Belgian air force at this point had realized that its inventory was too small and hopelessly outdated. As a result, they were scrambling to find replacements for its fighter fleet. The requirement was simple, be better than what was already present, and be able to deliver fast and in good quantity. Fiat with their CR.42 was one of only a few companies that could meet these demands. They were aware of their unique position and increased prices accordingly, asking more for the CR.42 than Belgium had paid for the more modern and more capable Brewster Buffalo. Nonetheless, by lack of choice, Belgium went ahead with the deal. In December 1939 they placed an order for 40 CR.42 aircraft. Deliveries started on March 6th 1940, by the time of the German invasion of Belgium (May 10th of the same year), 30 aircraft had been delivered to 2 squadrons: Squadron 3/II/2Aé (Red Cocotte) and 4/II/2Aé (White Cocotte).
Of these 30 aircraft, only 22 were available at the moment of the invasion, all of which were immediately deployed in airfield protection or reconnaissance roles. The losses would start coming in the same day. Sensing an attack on Nivelles airfield, the CR.42s were prepared for action, the aircraft started taking to the skies, but before the last 7 aircraft could take off, the first Stukas made their appearance. At 04:15 on May 10th, the first 2 aircraft were hit. The remaining Falcos that did manage to take off went on to Brustem, from where they were supposed to operate. Just as the last 3 planes were preparing for landing, a formation of enemy Ju-52s was spotted over Tongeren. The aircraft engaged the formation and managed to score enough hits on one of the enemies to force it to land. The flight of 3 aircraft was swiftly attacked by enemy fighters, but managed to escape unharmed.
Later the same morning, a flight of 5 CR.42s took off from Brustem, with the intention of protecting the airfield. During this mission, Charles Goffin and Roger Dellaney got into a dogfight with several enemy BF-109s. Roger Dellaney was shot down, but Charles Goffin managed to shoot down an enemy BF-109E. A little while later, Lt. Werner de Mérode managed to shoot down a Do 17 as he was returning from his reconnaissance mission.
A flight of enemy Stukas followed to attack the airbase next. 4th Squadron had managed to hide their aircraft in a nearby orchard, but 3rd squadron had not, leading to heavy losses on the behalf of the latter. All 14 Aircraft of squadron 3 were destroyed in this attack, leaving only the 8 CR.42s of 4th squadron operational. The remaining aircraft were rebased to Grimbergen and Nieuwkerken-Waas on May 11th, before redeploying to Chartres in France on May 16th. The Falcos, together with 8 remaining Fireflies took up defense of this airbase.
Curiously, in this period, Fiat delivered 4 more aircraft to the Belgian air force, one of which got lost en-route and never arrived. These aircraft were yet to be assembled, and their parts were rerouted to Bordeaux, where they were quickly assembled and deployed soon after.
The whole remaining fleet of Belgian Falcos continued to suffer losses from air raids, and were moved from airbase to airbase, eventually ending up in Montpellier at the time of the French armistice. Only 5 aircraft remained at this point, they were seized by the armistice commission on August 27 and handed over to the Germans, who probably used them as training aircraft.
The service of these little biplanes might have been short, at only 6 months, but the agile biplanes set themselves apart by scoring at least 5 aerial victories, more than any other type in Belgian service during world war 2.
General characteristics:
- Length: 8.3 m
- Height: 3 m
- Width: 9.7 m
- Empty weight: 1784 kg
- Max. takeoff weight: 2295 kg.
- Engine: 1x Fiat A.74 RC38 14-cylinder engine
- Power output: 820 hp
- Max speed: 441 km/u
Armament:
- 2x 12.7mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns
Place in-game:
Yes, I know, this would just be another C&P aircraft, however, it is one with significance to the Belgian air force. The most impactful Belgian fighter of World War 2 deserves a spot in-game for its valiant efforts. It would also serve to further expand the lackluster BeNeLux air subtree and add another biplane to the French tree, which currently only has 1: the Belgian Gladiator.
