Italian Warplanes preserved in the UK: Fiat CR.42 Falco biplane fighter

Italian War Prizes in the UK: Fiat CR.42 Falco

(Regia Aeronautica Photo)

Fiat CR.42 of the 162nd Squadron 161st "Autonomous Terrestrial Fighter Group", Aegean Islands 1940.

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 Italian Regia Aeronautica in the 1930s and during the Second World War.

(Regia Aeronautica Photo)

Fiat CR.42 of the 73rd and 97th Squadrons 9th Group, 4th Storm, Benina Lybia 1940.

(Regia Aeronautica Photo)

Fiat C.R.42 belonging to the 73rd Squadron, part of the 4th Wing, piloted by Ernesto Botto, nicknamed "Iron Leg"; North Africa 1940.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Fiat CR 42 Falco fighter.

(RAF Photos)

Fiat CR.42 Falco captured during the Battle of Britain. The aircraft was salvaged following a forced landing due to an overheated engine, on the shingle beach at Orfordness, Suffolk, on 11 November 1940.

(RAF Photos)

Fiat CR.42 Falco, still wearing its Italian camouflage scheme, was given RAF roundels and RAF Serial No. BT474. It was later flown by the RAF's No. 1426 Flight. This aircraft is preserved and displayed at the Royal Air Force Museum London, Hendon, as MM5701, 13-95.

(Steve Lynes Photo)

(Alan Wilson Photo)

Fiat CR.42 Falco (Serial No. Fv.2542), c/n 920, Reg. No. G-CBLS, The Fighter Collection, Duxford, Cambridgeshire. This Swedish Air Force J 11 is one of only four survivors of its type. It was lost in 1942 in a crash that killed its pilot on Tärnatjåkko, a mountain in the north of Sweden. It was recovered from the crash site in 1983 and was acquired by the Fighter Collection in 1995. G-CBLS has undergone a long and complex restoration which started in Venegono, Italy, before moving to Duxford and more recently to nearby Audley End. Now complete, this Fighter Collection aeroplane was returned to Duxford and reassembled just in time to make a static appearance in 2018, on the morning of the annual Flying Legends Airshow, Duxford Airfield, Cambridgeshire, UK.