Fiat G.50 Series I Finland
Unit: 1/LeLv26 Kilpasilta, Finland Mar 1943 (this aircraft had 5 victories with various pilots)
Pilot: L. Kalkkinen
The FIAT G.50 Freccia (Freccia means Arrow in English) was first flown in February 1937. The G.50 was Italy's first single-seat, all-metal monoplane with an enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear to go into production. Italian pilots disliked the sliding cockpit canopy, which was not easy to open quickly. So, in later production series, an open cockpit was adopted.
Fourteen G.50 were drawn from the first Series I production batch and shipped to Finland in January of 1940. They were assigned to LeLV 26, then stationed at Utti, but the unit was still in training when the so called Winter War with Russia ended with a peace treaty in March 1940. The enclosed cockpit canopies perspex began yellowing and fogging leading to the removal of the sliding canopies and painting over the fixed rear canopies.
Twenty one more G.50s were delivered during 1940 (two lost in transit), this time from the Series II version. Finland declared war on the Soviet Union on June 25, 1941 after the Russians bombed several Finland cities. With LeLv26, The G.50 saw its longest and most successful service in the two Finnish wars against the Soviet Union, the Winter War of 1939 1940 and the Continuation War of 1941 1944. Overall, LeLv 26 achieved 52 kills against only 2 losses in combat.
Credits
Captain Kurt: Aircraft model, VC, paint textures, aircraft flight files, and .dp.
Kelticheart: Prop blurred texture.
Gauges, as far as I know, credit goes to kelticheart, mvg3d, Chalachew, Beepee, and Gius for their WWII Italian gauges.
The panel, much modified, is based on an IL-2 panel.
Thank you to all of them for their hard work and attention to detail.
Unit: 1/LeLv26 Kilpasilta, Finland Mar 1943 (this aircraft had 5 victories with various pilots)
Pilot: L. Kalkkinen
The FIAT G.50 Freccia (Freccia means Arrow in English) was first flown in February 1937. The G.50 was Italy's first single-seat, all-metal monoplane with an enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear to go into production. Italian pilots disliked the sliding cockpit canopy, which was not easy to open quickly. So, in later production series, an open cockpit was adopted.
Fourteen G.50 were drawn from the first Series I production batch and shipped to Finland in January of 1940. They were assigned to LeLV 26, then stationed at Utti, but the unit was still in training when the so called Winter War with Russia ended with a peace treaty in March 1940. The enclosed cockpit canopies perspex began yellowing and fogging leading to the removal of the sliding canopies and painting over the fixed rear canopies.
Twenty one more G.50s were delivered during 1940 (two lost in transit), this time from the Series II version. Finland declared war on the Soviet Union on June 25, 1941 after the Russians bombed several Finland cities. With LeLv26, The G.50 saw its longest and most successful service in the two Finnish wars against the Soviet Union, the Winter War of 1939 1940 and the Continuation War of 1941 1944. Overall, LeLv 26 achieved 52 kills against only 2 losses in combat.
Credits
Captain Kurt: Aircraft model, VC, paint textures, aircraft flight files, and .dp.
Kelticheart: Prop blurred texture.
Gauges, as far as I know, credit goes to kelticheart, mvg3d, Chalachew, Beepee, and Gius for their WWII Italian gauges.
The panel, much modified, is based on an IL-2 panel.
Thank you to all of them for their hard work and attention to detail.
