IPMS Toronto member Thomas Ricci has assembled some awesome research around the Fiat CR.42 and compiled into a reference document that can be accessed by modelers worldwide!

“By the start of the Second World War, most of the major combatants were firmly of the opinion that the day of the biplane had well and truly passed. Nothing better demonstrates this than the fact that not only did the Italian Air Force continue using biplane fighters in the front line well after their rivals, but they doubled down on the challenge! That led to them developing what must rank as the ultimate biplane fighter aircraft. The aircraft, the FIAT CR.42, like many products of the Italian aircraft industry, was distinguished by elegance, power, stamina, and courage.

The FIAT Group, the Turin automobile business, developed the aircraft via the Fiat Aviazione division; the aircraft entered military service in smaller numbers with foreign air forces such as those of Belgium, Sweden, and Hungary. With over 1,800 constructed, it was the most commonly produced Italian aircraft to participate in WWII. The Fiat CR.42 was the last of the Fiat biplane fighters to see front-line action as a fighter; this Italian marvel represented the pinnacle of its type.”