- Yes
- Maybe
- No
History.
After the wartime success in the second half of the 1930s of engineer Rosatelli’s Fiat CR.32 fighter, he and his technical team began work on a new-generation biplane fighter, following the formula of the more modern and high-performance CR.32. In early 1938, the Italian Ministry of Aeronautics made a request to Fiat for prototypes of the new fighter type, and the request was granted with the production of two “intermediate” vehicles (the CR.40 and 41).Towards the end of the first half of 1938, the new fighter, named Fiat CR.42 N°1, left the FIAT factories and was brought to the Turin-Aeritalia “Edoardo Agnelli” airport for its first flight.
In time, the fighter became famous and was widely used by the Regia Aeronautica as a fighter and as an assault fighter where normal aircraft for assault were lacking. In April 1942 over the city of Ravenna, one of these fighters was filmed by the cameras of the Istituto Luce, with a special camo for that aircraft numbered 45 and registered with military serial number MM.6882, probably used in a Gruppo Complementare as an improvised assault fighter at the Scuola Caccia Assalto based in that city.
The ultimate end of the aircraft is not known.
The camo.
The aircraft was coloured with an unusual camo for the type of aircraft it was. In fact, the camouflage scheme is the typical one with irregular rings used by the Macchi 202 in North Africa and the Macchi 205 in Italy, with a green hue (as reported by the maker of the photograph, i.e. the Istituto Luce cameraman Vitale Valvassori), consistent with what the official documents of the time reported about the colouring as the background of the aircraft was hazelnut (Nocciola Chiaro 4) and the irregular rings were olive green (Verde Oliva Scuro 2) and grey (Grigio Azzurro Chiaro 1).
Pictures and drawnings.
Sources.
Spoiler
“Ali e Colori 1 FIAT CR 42” by Paolo Waldis, Marino De Bortoli and Angelo Brioschi
“Colori E Schemi Mimetici Della Regia Aeronautica 1935-1943” by Andrea Degl’Innocenti and Umberto Postiglioni
https://www.aeroclubravenna.com/aeroporto
ITALERI - FIAT CR.42 Falco Assault/Night Fighter
Fiat C.R.42 - Wikipedia