Fiat CR.42 Falco

what is it?

The Fiat CR.42 Falco (Falcon, plural: Falchi) is a single-seat sesquiplane fighter developed and produced by Italian aircraft manufacturer Fiat Aviazione. It served primarily in the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Italian Air Force) in the 1930s and during the Second World War. The CR.42 was a development of Fiat’s earlier CR.32 fighter, powered by the more powerful supercharged Fiat A.74R1C.38 air-cooled radial engine and with improvements.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 9.7 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 441 km/htop speed
• range 780 kmwithout refuelling
• size 2,295 kgmax take-off weight
• built 1,782made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 88 years ago, in 1938.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 9.7 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.2× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1938-05-23

introduced

1939

retired

1948

status

retired

number built

1,782

role

fighter

origin

🇮🇹 Italy

makers

Fiat Aviazione

engines

1× Fiat A.74 R.C.38 / Fiat A.74 R1C.38

crew

1

length

8.3 m

wingspan

9.7 m

height

3.6 m

max take-off weight

2,295 kg

top speed

441 km/h

cruise speed

399 km/h

range

780 km

ceiling

10,210 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.