- 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 1942, a propaganda postcard was made showing a group of such fighters dive-bombing over terrain at high altitude, with several groups of SM.79 bombers and other fighters of the same type above them. The planes are interestingly coloured, with unusual colour schemes and no certainty of their use in real life.
The camo.
The aircraft was coloured with an unusual camo for its type, in fact the aircraft is designed with a camouflage pattern in large patches of four colours with sharp edges, a colour scheme normally only applied for the Breda Ba 64 and Ba 65 assault aircraft. The nose of the aircraft from the beginning of the NACA cover to the end is coloured with an unusual two-tone colour scheme similar to the colours Brown 10 and Light Brown 4 (the most similar), while the rest of the aircraft is coloured with the colours Camouflage Yellow 3, Camouflage Brown 2, Camouflage Green 3 and Camouflage Green 53192. The tail obviusly with double green-red colouring, obviously divided by the Savoy cross.
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
“Ali d’Italia 7 Breda Ba 65” by Giancarlo Garello
Aeronautica Militare Italiana ⋆ Custode della Memoria