With the clouds of war looming over the European Continent the Italian Air Force better known as the Regia Aeronautica found itself no longer on the cutting edge of aviation as it ha been in the late 20’s and early 30’s. Setting one world record after another the Regia was riding a high. As new mono wing and all metal aircraft were coming on line the Regia realized that they were falling behind in aircraft design. Francesco Ricolo was inserted by Mussolini as Chief of Air Staff and he leaned on Fiat to produce the newly licensed German DB601 engine.
Aeronautica Macchi (sometimes known as AerMacchi) was ordered to build a plane around the new German engine, the company tried to use as many components as it could from its excellent but underpowered C.200 Saetta fighter. So was born the superb Mc.202 Folgore (Literally translated as Lightning. Italian aircraft were given official nicknames but the pilots rarely used these names.)
These planes were used in Africa, Malta, Russia, Tunisia, all through the Mediterranean and of course in the defense of Italy. They were considered a very able opponent to the latest series of fighters from America and England. On a small side note, the Ki-61 Hien was assigned the allied call sign of “Tony” because Air Intelligence had thought the Ki-61 was a licensed Mc.202 and assigned the ethically attached Italian name. Once it was proven that the new inline Japanese aircraft was not an import, it was too late and the code name stuck.
