Aviation of World War II

The G.56 fighter stood at the pinnacle of the development of the Italian piston fighter line. But, unlike the G.55 Centauro, the G.56 was equipped with a more powerful Daimler-Benz DB 603A-1 engine with a takeoff power of up to 1700 hp. against 1450 liters. from. in the G.55, providing the new fighter with better thrust-to-weight ratio and improving its acceleration characteristics, increasing its maximum speed and rate of climb. However, the increase in the mass of the new engine to restore alignment forced the designers to sacrifice firepower - two large-caliber machine guns in the nose of the fuselage were dismantled. However, the total arsenal of the vehicle, consisting of three 20mm MG-151 cannons, remained quite impressive.

Armament. 20 mm Mauser MG 151/20 cannon in the fuselage, 2 × 20 mm in the wing. 2 × 12.7 mm in fuselage.

In order to quickly launch the G.56 into mass production, the fighter was created as similar as possible to its predecessor, the G.55. The biggest modifications were made only to the engine hood, which acquired more aerodynamic shapes and became 80 mm longer. The fighter's armament consisted of two synchronous 12.7-mm machine guns located in the fuselage and two 20-mm MG 151/20 cannons in the wing. In July 1943, construction began on two prototypes with military numbers MM.536 and MM.537.

The first prototype of the G.56 took off on March 28, 1944. The tests were carried out under full German control and did not show any advantages over the main German Bf 109G and FW-190A fighters. The second prototype was ready in the summer of 1944 and differed from its predecessor only in the German VDM propeller with a diameter of 3.05 m, intended for testing various weapons, including the 30-mm Rheinmetall-Borsig MK 108 cannon. flights until September 1944, all work on the G.56 program was stopped.

Bibliography

• Encyclopedia of Military Equipment / Aerospace Publising /
• Fighter FIAT G.56 / Andrey Krumkach. /