But its performance in the first months of World War II was poor, even failing to subdue Malta with 1,000 bombers based less than 100 km (60 mi) away.

One of the reasons was the lack of dive bombers and effective ground-attack aircraft; the Breda Ba.88 was a failure, and the Caproni Ca.310 was so ineffective that it was replaced by the Fiat CR.32 fighter-bomber.

Two single-engined types were proposed, the Caproni Ca.355, a single seat derivative of the Ca.335 light bomber that first flew in January 1941 and the Breda Ba.201.

It was capable of carrying a single 500 kg (1,100 lb) bomb and was armed with two 12.7 mm (.5 in) Breda-SAFAT machine guns fixed in the wings.

The Reggiane Re.2001 fighter bomber fitted with the same DB 601 engine was able to reach almost 550 km/h (342 mph), and carry 640 kg (1,411 lb) bombs.