Historical documentantion research
Hi everybody!
Last night further research yielded info that settles the Veltro capability of carrying payloads in action or not.
Although there is no Regia Aeronautica historical record showing that M.C 205 Veltros were ever used operationally with payloads, their capability of carrying external weapons/droptanks was indeed part of the original project, conceived by Engineer Mario Castoldi at Aeronautica Macchi plant in Varese.
WWII Italian fighter pilots almost thought as Imperial Japanese Naval pilots, accepting no compromise in their aircraft that would have impaired performance and, above all, manoeuvrability. Regia Aeronautica unit commanders, pilots themselves, stood by their subordinates supporting their requests. Meeting these pilot's indications, both Macchi-Castoldi 202 and 205 were conceived as pure fighters and never flown in ground attack roles, apart from strafing terrestrial targets with their inboard guns.
Hanging bombs from the delicate, thin wings of the M.C. 202 Folgore would have seriously impaired her flight characteristics, to the point that Italian pilots even renounced the extra pair of 7.7 mm wing guns provided by the late production series, to keep their Folgores nimble and light. The M.C.202 always suffered from lack of heavy armament, yet the wing guns were routinely taken off from the aircraft in the field by ground crews, upon pilot's requests.
The M.C. 205 Veltro was more powerful than the Folgore, thanks to the 1,475 hp DB605A powerplant, license-built by Fiat. This allowed for the wing armament being kept operationally by the pilots, turned from the Early Production series of a pair of 7.7 mm. Breda-Safat machine guns to two 20 mm Mauser MG151 cannons in the Late Production, Series III, M.C.205V. It also allowed for a strengthened, heavier airframe, making the possibility of underwing hardpoints real.
Only when Italy was split in two by the September 8th, 1943 armistice, aircraft deployed in the Southern Italy co-belligerant Regia Aeronautica were probably field-modified to carry external loads. As I said before, there's only one photo of a M.C. 202 Folgore equipped with droptanks, none of the M.C. 205 Veltro and none at all showing bombs. Just two 100 litre droptanks (about 27 US gals.), to provide the long range necessary to escort missions in Yugoslavia and the Balcan region along with Allied air forces.
Northern Italy based Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (A.N.R.) did not deploy the M.C.205V for ground support missions. A.N.R. Veltros were flown exclusively in the interceptor role of Allied bomber formations.
No.27 issue of a specialized, bi-lingual Italian/English, magazine called "Ali d'Italia" (Italy's Wings), published by La Bancarella Aeronautica, Torino, in 2008, reports that after the end of WWII, the M.C. 205's purchased by the Royal Egyptian Air Force, and flown during the first of the many Arab-Israeli confrontations in 1948, were supplied with permanent underwing pylons. The magazine states the R.E.A.F. Veltros were indeed used for ground attacks, although not specifying whether the attacks were strafing only or strafing and bombing.
I captured three pictures on pages 40-41 (below), which I'll include in the MC205 hybrid REAF folder, clearly showing such pylons.
All of the above said, you will find in this pack "what if" dps for the two co-belligerant R.A. models (EP and H1) with droptank capability only.
I provided the H2 R.E.A.F. model, instead, with a dp featuring permanent wing pylons, droptank capability and a payload of 2 x 120lbs RAF GP bombs. Heavier bombs would not be realistic at all, as they would seriously impair even the M.C.205 more powerful performance.
The attached screenshot still shows MVG3d/Blood_Hawk's splendid Italian 50kg bomb, but Manuele Villa rightly pointed out to me that the Egyptians used WWII surplus leftover British weapons, they indeed had no access to Italian WWII bombs in 1948! Hence the payload change I just mentioned.
This will cause some extra release delay, I am sure you will be patient for another few days!
Cheers!
Stef/KH 
