CANT Z 511 Long Range Hydroplane917 viewsThe Cantz 511 Long Range Cargo Hydroplane was first designed by Fillipo Zappata. The first flight took place in Monfalcone (Trieste, north-eastern Italy) in October 1940. It's first operational start took place in February 1942 (Italian territory). On January 1942, the hydroplane had to be employed on different long range routes, as the war against the United States prevented the civil use of CANTZ511 in the Atlantic area. Some had the odd idea of a spectacular mission in the skies of New York, launching one ton of tri-coloured leaflets. Some others thought about a non-stop Rome-Buenos Aires raid (8000 km!). None of these projects was carried out. And it was a real pity, as the test pilot Mario Stoppani - between the end of February and the beginning of March 1942, during the last trials - succeeded in taking off and landing (full loaded) with very rough sea, with 1.5 metres high waves and winds blowing at 55-65 kmh.
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FIAT CR 42 falco589 viewsThe last of the biplane fighters, the Falco flew for the first time on 23 May 1938. It served on most fronts, first as a fighter, and quickly changed to ground support due to the inability of the aircraft to tackle modern allied aircraft. The Fiat CR42 was considered the most agile biplane fighter of WWII, and was certainly a hard target to hit, for the more modern but less maneuverable monoplanes. The Falco was lightly armed, as most of the fighters of it's time were, with 2 12.7mm Breda-SAFAT and still now holds the record of the fastest biplane (439 km/h) in WWII. At the time of El Alamein it was used as ground attack plane. The Falco finished its carreer as a night fighter defending Northern Italy.It was very nice to fly and very manouvrable, with a good pilot could even face the first series Hurricanes.
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