The C.202 was a development of the earlier C.200 Saetta, powered by an Italian-built version of the German Daimler-Benz DB 601Aa engine and featuring a redesigned fuselage for greater streamlining.

The C.202 continued to be used in North Africa as late as mid-1943, by which point the type was withdrawn to support defensive efforts in Sicily and the Italian mainland following their invasion by Allied forces.

[12][13] As a result of this preference, Italian aircraft manufacturer Macchi Aeronautica was forced to rely on the aging Fiat A.74 radial to power its C.200 fighter.

However, by 1941, the C.200, which was armed with a pair of 12.7 mm (.50 in) machine guns and capable of a maximum speed of 504 km/h (315 mph), was considered to be obsolete in comparison to competitors in production overseas.

During July 1939, the Regia Aeronautica requested that Reggiane construct a single prototype Re.2000 that was powered by a German Daimler-Benz DB 601Aa, liquid-cooled supercharged inverted V-12 engine rated at 1,175 PS (1,159 hp, 864 kW); this became the Re.2001.

From the onset of flying trials, it was evident that the C.202 was an advanced design for the era, owing much of its performance to the use of the Daimler Benz DB 601, which represented a departure from the standard practice of using engines of Italian origin.

[22] The Macchi C.202 Folgore was developed from the earlier C.200 Saetta, the principal differences being the use of an Italian-built version of the German Daimler-Benz DB 601Aa engine and the adoption of a revised streamlined fuselage.

The forward section housed both the main armament and the Alfa Romeo RA.1000 R.C.41-I Monsone engine, which drove a Piaggio P1001 three-blade, variable pitch, constant speed propeller.

The wing was a two spar structure, attached to the fuselage center section via steel forgings; it was fitted with flaps that were both statically and dynamically balanced.

[citation needed] The clean aerodynamics offered by the inline engine permitted dive speeds high enough for pilots to encounter the then-unknown phenomenon of compressibility.

[30] Some of the defects present on the new fighter could have been easily resolved, such as a tendency for the landing gear to inadvertently lower when pulling out of a steep dive, a machine gun bonnet that often broke, frequent jamming of the ammunition belts and the rapid crystallizing and eventual shearing of the air cleaner intake caused by vibrations generated by the engine.

Some defects appeared similar to those on the early C. 200 version: on 3 August, during a mock dogfight, Sergente Maggiore Antonio Valle – an experienced pilot, credited with two kills in Marmarica and recipient of a Medaglia di Bronzo al Valor Militare (Bronze Medal of Military Valor) – at a height of 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) entered in a flat spin and could not recover or bail out, losing his life.

[35] The type was quickly put to use outside of North Africa, seeing limited service against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front where, between 1941 and 1943, together with C.200s, the fighter reportedly achieved an 88 to 15 victory/loss ratio.

[48] The Macchi could out-turn the Spitfire, but the Folgores suffered from the lack of a more powerful armament and, without radios, the Regia Aeronautica pilots were forced to communicate with one another by waggling their wings and, consequently, had to adopt formations that were too tight and less effective in combat.

Both pilots flew with 51° Stormo C.T., the most successful Italian unit over Malta, having reportedly achieved a score of 97 aircraft destroyed for the loss of only 17 Folgores.

Macchi 202s of 1° Stormo based at Uadi Tamet had been transferred from Italy one month before and recently relocated from Bir el Merduma because the airbase was too exposed to SAS attacks.

[59] By the end of the year, the growing strength of the Allied forces was overwhelming and after the defeat in the skies over Malta as well as El-Alamein the last operational Axis units lost their air superiority in the Mediterranean.

[64] During August 1942, at the beginning of the German offensive, they were deployed at the Stalino, Lughansk, Kantemirovka and Millerovo airfields, typically performing ground attack strikes against the Red Army positions along the east Don river during October–November 1942.

[citation needed] As a consequence of these operational circumstances, 21° Gruppo – which had 17 C.202s on strength – were rarely able to conduct sorties; as such, only a total of 17 missions were flown with Folgores on the Eastern Front during a four-month period.

During one such mission, on 11 December 1942, which involved the escorting of several Junkers Ju 52s en route to Stalingrad, Tenente Pilota Gino Lionello was shot down and forced to bail out from his Folgore.

[citation needed] On 17 January 1943, the last effective operation of Corpo Aereo Italiano in Russia occurred, when a single mixed formation of 25 surviving Macchi fighters (out of a remaining total of 30 C.200s and nine C.202s) attacked several Red Army armored and motorized infantry columns in support of German and Italian units that were encircled in Millerovo.

[2][67] Furthermore, it was increasingly recognised that 20 mm cannons were required in order to cause enough damage, thus a mixture of Bf 109F/Gs, Macchi MC.205s and Fiat G.55s were deployed to replace the remaining C.202s as soon as possible.

Capitano Franco Lucchini, who was credited with 21/26 individual victories and 52 shared, began to fly the Folgore after having already shot down 10 enemy aircraft.

During March 1944, they were scrambled for the first time against an American raid west of Zagreb but combat was avoided; Croatian Macchi pilots had been initially instructed to attack only those aircraft which had already been damaged or had become separated from their main formations.

[73] On 24 April 1944, the first confirmed air victory was claimed by Unteroffizier Leopold Hrastovcan against an American B-24 that was shot down near the village of Zapresic (Zagorje).

[72] According to aviation authors Dragan Savic and Boris Ciglic, Croatian pilots did not at first have a high opinion of the Macchi fighter, in part due to its armament consisting of just a pair of 12.7 mm and two 7.7mm machine guns, which were regarded as scarcely effective against the heavily armed US four-engined bombers.

[76] As a consequence of the Allied aerial bombing against the Italian Social Republic, during which the manufacturing facilities of the Macchi company had sustained damage during 1944, both the production life and combat career of both the C.202 and the further refined C.205 were cut short.

[3] The Royal Egyptian Air Force ordered a total of 42 C.205s, but 31 of these were in fact re-engined Folgores (C.202s), armed with only a pair of 12.7 mm Breda machine guns.

[77] Switzerland had placed an order for 20 C.202s, however, none of these were ever delivered; this was due to the deteriorating war situation at the time (May 1943) that meant that Italy no longer had the capability to export these types of aircraft.

[79] The C.202 was often considered to have been superior to both the British Hawker Hurricane and the American Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk that it commonly fought against, at first on the Libyan front, as well as being the equal of the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.