Modern-Aviation

The Italian Fiat CR.32 biplane fighter is widely regarded as one of the best of its kind during the inter-war period, specifically the 1930s. The CR.32's design was based on the preceding CR.30 offering which totaled 176 aircraft for various global operators including Italy, Paraguay and the Spanish State. From this framework, a dimensionally-smaller form was worked into a viable gunnery platform possessing good maneuverability and excellent in-the-field survivability.

A biplane winged arrangement was used and the aircraft was crewed by a single operator seated in an open-air cockpit under and aft of the upper wing element (near midships). The upper and lower wings (of unequal span) were joined by parallel strutworks and cabling common to fighter designs of the period. The undercarriage was of a tail-dragger configuration though the main wheels were spatted for aerodynamic efficiency. The tail was of single-rudder design. At front in the fuselage (direct ahead of the pilot's position) was the engine installation and this drove a two-bladed propeller unit at the nose. Armament included 2 x 7.7mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns synchronized to fire through the spinning propeller blades though 12.7mm heavy caliber machine guns could be used in their place. A modest bomb load of up to 220lb could also be carried for ground attacks. Internally, a metal understructure was used while skinning was a mix of alloy and fabric covering.

Power was served from a Fiat A30 RA-bis V12 engine developing 600 horsepower. Maximum speed of 225 miles per hour with a range out to 485 miles and a service ceiling up to 28,870 feet. Rate-of-climb neared 1,822 feet per minute.

A first-flight in prototype form was recorded on April 28th, 1933. China was the initial global operator to commit to the type through a twenty-four strong order. These arrived in 1935 though the order totaled only nine fighters in the end. From March of 1934 until February of 1936, the Italian Air Force became the proud recipient of this homegrown product and took on 282 aircraft. Almost immediately, pilots appreciated the small fighter's capabilities and its impact on the air service was well publicized. Before its combat service began, the CR.32 was a favorite at many of the air displays it attended.

Spain managed to secure a license for local production of the Italian machine which resulted in 100 HA-132-L "Chirri" fighters. These were pressed into service during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) from 1938 onward. The Italians had already been using their CR.32 fighters in the conflict since August 1936 and this marked the series' first taste of combat.

Improved A30 RAbis engines of 600 horsepower output greeted the equally-improved CR.32bis variant delivered to the Italian Air Force by way of a 283-strong order. Armament was mixed with 2 x 7.7mm and 2 x 12.7mm machine guns giving the nimble fighter a better offensive punch. Austria was sold 45 of this standard and an additional 52 were entrusted to Hungary though only 38 of the lot were handed over to the customer.

One hundred fifty more CR.32 fighters were realized as the CR.32ter in 1937 and these carried just 2 x 12.7mm heavy machine guns but were given improved cockpit panels and aiming devices. The CR.32quater (based on the CR.32ter) numbered 337 production units for the Italian Air Force but was also sold to Paraguay and Guatemala. This version was also produced locally by Spain from 1940 until 1943 and forty were reworked as two-seat training platforms. Its major change was a new lightweight design and now a communications set had been added.

The CR.33 made up three prototypes with Fiat AC.33RC engines. Maximum speed was improved to 256 miles per hour but the model was not adopted for serial production.

The CR.40 was a one-off prototype with a British Bristol Mercury IV air-cooled radial piston engine. Like-wise the CR.40bis was a single prototype and the CR.41 followed suit - neither were adopted.

Total CR.32 fighter production reached 1,052 units before its end was seen. It was more or less made obsolete by modern inventions by the time of World War 2 in 1939 but Italian authorities were still convinced of the merits of the CR.32 even against more modern types and the biplane went on to represent over half of the fighter stock available to the Italians as war broke out. As such, these aging biplanes were encountered in the North African campaign and across Italian homeland airspace during the early part of the conflict - certainly into 1940 by which point the fighter was still having a good showing, even against more modern thoroughbreds.

Additional combat actions were seen over Greece but, by 1942, the line was all but marked for retirement. Night time missions were the last taken on by the line. The Spanish Air Force did not retire their lot until 1953.

Other global operators beyond those mentioned included Austria, China, and Nazi Germany. The Austrians committed to 45 of the CR.32bis model while the Chinese fielded the type under the Nationalist Air Force banner. German examples were taken over from the existing Austrian stock.

The new biplane was an instant success. After a period of testing, the first production orders were received in March 1934, and the type soon equipped the 1°, 3° and 4° Stormi of the Regia Aeronautica. The CR.32 was well liked by its crews, being very maneuverable and having a strong fuselage structure.

The Fiat biplanes were used for many aerobatic shows, in Italy and abroad. When foreign statesmen visited the Holy City, the 4° Stormo, Regia Aeronautica élite unit, based in Rome, put on impressive displays with formations of five or 10 aircraft. In 1936, air shows were organized in other European capitals and major cities, and, during the following year, in South America. When the team returned a brilliant display was put on in Berlin.

In 1938 Spain acquired a license to build the CR.32. Hispano Aviación built 100 examples under the designation HA-132-L Chirri, some of these remaining in service as C.1 aerobatic trainers up to 1953.

The Fiat CR.32 was used extensively in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Nationalist military rebellion against the Spanish Republic. At least 380 took part in the air battles fought over Spain, proving formidable adversaries to the Soviet Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 monoplanes that formed the backbone of the Spanish Republican Air Force.[8] It had its baptism of fire in 1936. On 18 August the first 12 CR.32 Freccias arrived in Spain and formed the Squadriglia Gamba di Ferro, Cucaracha, and Asso di Bastoni of 3° Stormo; three days later Tenente Vittorino Ceccherelli, a Gold Medal of Military Valor winner, shot down the first enemy aircraft, a Nieuport 52, over Cordoba.[6] In total, the Italian government sent 365–405 C.R.32s to Spain while 127–131 were delivered directly to Nationalist aviation units. Six aircraft were captured by Republican forces, with one sent to the USSR for evaluation.

Thanks to the agile CR.32, the Italians managed to gain air superiority over their Fuerzas Aéreas de la República Española opponents, who flew a motley collection of very different, often obsolete aircraft. The Fiat biplane proved to be effective, with the Aviazione Legionaria claiming 60 (48 confirmed) modern Russian Tupolev SB bombers, once believed impossible to intercept, 242 Polikarpov I-15 biplane fighters, and 240 Polikarpov I-16 monoplane fighters, plus another hundred not confirmed. C.R.32 losses were only 73. According to other sources, of the 376 Fiat shipped to Spain, 175 (43 Spanish operated and 132 Italian) were lost, including 99 (26 Spanish and 73 Italian) shot down, while, by January 1939, the number of I-15s shot down was just 88.

The top scoring CR.32 ace was Spaniard Joaquín García Morato y Castaño, who was the leading Nationalist fighter pilot of the Spanish Civil War. He achieved 36 of his 40 victories flying the Fiat biplane. He used, until his death, the same aircraft, which carried the number 3-51 on the fuselage. In April 1939, the war over, Morato fatally crashed his faithful 3-51 while performing low aerobatics.

Another Nationalist CR.32 ace was Capitán Manuel Vázquez Sagastizábal, who claimed 21 1⁄3 victories with Grupo 2-G-3, before he was shot down and killed on 23 January 1939. Comandante Angel Salas Larrazabal, after one kill flying a Nieuport-Delage 52, flew CR.32s, shooting down, on 29 October 1936, the first of the fast Soviet monoplane Tupolev SB-2 bombers to fall to Nationalist fighters. He shot down four more aircraft with the CR.32 before moving to a Heinkel He 51 unit. After two more victories, he joined the new Grupo 2-G-3. With this unit, again flying CR.32s, he raised his score to 16, including three SB-2s and an I-16 in a single sortie on 2 September 1938. Capitán Miguel Guerrero Garcia achieved nine of his 13 victories flying the Fiat biplane: four I-15s, three “Papagayos” (R-5s and Polikarpov-RZs assault bombers), and two I-16s.

The first international operator of the CR.32 was Chiang Kai-shek's for China, which ordered 16 (according to other sources 24) CR.32s of the first series in 1933. The aircraft had Vickers 7.7 mm machine guns instead of the Breda-SAFAT, electric headlights, the little cooling fins on the oil tank in the nose were removed and some were equipped with radios. They were based at Nangahang airport, near Shanghai. Some officers of the Chinese high command disliked the Fiat, but Chinese pilots appreciated that the Italian biplanes in comparative tests proved superior to American Curtiss Hawk and Boeing P-26. The Chinese Government did not order more CR.32s as it was difficult to import alcohol and benzole to mix with petrol for the engines. In May 1936, only six "Freccias" were still operational. In August 1937, the remaining CR.32s were used with some initial success in Shanghai against the invading Japanese.[9] By late 1937, when the Chinese capital at Nanjing fell, all CR.32s had been lost