14 Dec 06
Fiat CR20
The Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, established in 1899 in Turin, has always been more than just a car-maker. Under the leadership of Giovanni Agnelli, by 1906 Fiat employed 2,500 people to make cars, trucks, buses, trams and marine engines, for export as far afield as America and Australia, and in 1908 it made its first aero engine. The SA 8/75, a 50bhp V8, was directly developed from Fiat's motorsport engines, and it was fitted into Farman planes (including the MF 11, see above) and airships for the Italian military. Fiat quickly developed more powerful engines, including a 240bhp unit also fitted in anti-submarine torpedo boats, and the six-cylinder A12, of which 13,260 were made in just four years to power Italian planes during World War I. The 720bhp A14 V12 followed, as well as smaller 100bhp units for light two-seater biplanes: under the name Sia-Societa Italiana (SVA) Fiat made 1,000 Farman 5Bs from 1915. And when peace was declared in August 1918, it was a squadron of eight Fiat SVA biplanes with the SPA 6A 200bhp engine which dropped information leaflets over the besieged city of Vienna to inform civilians that the armistice had been signed.
Fiat was rapidly acquiring smaller companies in many sectors, including train- and steel-makers, and it started to swallow up small Italian aircraft firms such as Pomilio, Ansaldo and Cmasa-Construzioni. It made its first civilian aircraft, the AL biplane, in 1922, and went on to make military craft such as the CR 32 and CR 42 biplanes, the CR 20, G50 and G55 fighters and the larger BR20 bomber. The G-series planes were descended from the Giuseppe Gabrielli-designed G2, an advanced all-metal construction with a cantilevered wing. Also in 1932 Fiat-powered S56 seaplanes crossed the North Atlantic by, and a speed record for flying boats was set two years later which still stands today - the 440.7mph achieved by Francesco Agello in an Idro-Macchi MC75, powered by Fiat's immense but lightweight 3,100bhp V24 AS6 engine.
Fiat G50 Freccia
Fiat engines were supplied to the Italian Regia Aeronautica (airforce) in the 1930s, though some only made it to the experimental stage. The Breda Ba.65, with Fiat's A80 engine, was used in the Spanish Civil War, but this plane proved unreliable in North Africa against the British during World War II; it was also deployed to Iraq, Chile and Portugal, but was not well suited to desert conditions. Mussolini's pride, the Breda Ba.88 long-distance bomber, was similarly undistinguished; using Fiat engines from 1942, it was flight tested by the Luftwaffe but never saw service.
Post WWII, Fiat's car sales boomed, and its aircraft division similarly expanded. Highlights included the G21 (1947), a three-engined 34-passenger plane, Italy's first jet, the G80, in 1951, and the G91, a tactical ground-attack fighter which won a NATO prize for its all-round abilities, including taking off from grass. Half of the 700 built went to the Luftwaffe; the Frecce Tricolore, Italy's equivalent of the Red Arrows display team, also used G91s for around 20 years. There was also the 7002 helicopter. On a roll, Fiat continued to make fighter planes (G222, G91Y, also supplied to the German and Portuguese airforces) in the 1960s, then merged with Finmeccanica in 1969 to found Aeritalia. This new spin-off concentrated on aircraft construction, with Fiat supplying the engines from a separate division, known as Fiat Aviazione from 1976. Renamed Fiat Avio in 1989 - and absorbing Alfa Romeo Avio in 1996 - this was sold off in 2003 when Fiat's finances hit rock-bottom. Today simply known as Avio, this company is still based in Turin, and it makes components including transmissions and turbines for fighter craft (Typhoon, Tornado) and helicopters, as well as supplying components for civil aircraft.
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