Along with the Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario and Fiat G.55 Centauro, the Macchi C.205 was one of the three "Serie 5" Italian fighters built around the powerful German-sourced Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine.

Due to a combination of design choices, including the DB 605 engine and a relatively high wing loading, it was capable of achieving comparable performance to contemporary frontline German fighter aircraft.

Entering squadron service with the Regia Aeronautica during February 1943, the C.205 soon garnered a strong reputation amongst both Allied and Axis pilots; it has been widely regarded as one of the best Italian aircraft of the Second World War.

[2] The C. 205 proved capable of engaging fighters such as the North American P-51D Mustang on equal terms; this performance reportedly encouraged the Luftwaffe to use a number of these aircraft to equip one Gruppe.

[1] Italy's highest-scoring ace, Adriano Visconti, achieved 11 of his 26 credited victories in the few weeks he was able to fly the Veltro, while the top-scoring Sergente Maggiore pilota Luigi Gorrini shooting down 14 enemy aircraft plus six damaged with the C.205.

[4] The C.205 saw only a relatively small production run prior to the end of the conflict, which was primarily the result of various limitations in place on the Italian war economy.

During 1941, seeking to further improve the performance of the C.202 fighter, the Regia Aeronautica decided to license-build the German Daimler-Benz DB 605 1,100 kW (1,500 hp) liquid-cooled supercharged inverted V-12 engine in Italy, which Fiat produced as the RA.1050 R.C.58 Tifone (Typhoon).

[6] Testing revealed that both the Fiat G.55 Centauro and Re.2005 Sagittario were capable of greater performance while flying at high altitudes, largely due to their larger wing area.

[8] On 19 May 1943, the second prototype, designated C.205N2, took place; during testing, it reportedly attained 628 kilometres per hour (390 mph), which was marginally slower than the C.205N1 with a correspondingly longer time to reach its operational altitude.

The N-series aircraft should have performed better than the C.205V but Macchi test pilot Guido Carestiato noted that their flying characteristics were inferior to the lighter and more agile C.205 Veltro.

[11] The C.205, known initially as the C.202bis, was generally similar to the previous Folgore,[6] although there were numerous differences in the fuselage: the tail was larger, the cockpit and its hump were redesigned, the antenna mast was bigger and some modifications were made to the wings.

The C.205 was fitted with a twin-barrel radiator, which was positioned underneath the centre section of the fuselage directly beneath the cockpit; this arrangement provided superior airflow, and thereby engine cooling, to its counterpart on the C.202.

The wings were made of light aluminium alloys and steel, having two spars and three sections, housing two additional fuel tanks, and the fully retractable wide-set main undercarriage gear.

[citation needed] Veltros originally had "tropical" pattern camouflage, with a sand brown base coat and irregular black-green lines all over their surface (referred to as "smoke rings").

As opposed to the two N versions, the Veltro was tested under ideal conditions, i.e. at light weight (3,250 kg (7,170 lb) and with full emergency power (2,750 rpm).

Efforts were made to get the type produced as quickly as possible,[14] however, the speed of production was relatively slow (about 12 machines per month) in spite of these endeavours.

At the end of April, the 1° Stormo, based in Pantelleria, is the first unit to enter action with the C.205, on Mediterranean, escorting maritime and aerial convoys to and from Tunisia.

The Italian pilots flew as many as six sorties per day, but on 14 July, with the first Allied paratroopers landing on the Catania plain, 4° Stormo was forced to retreat to Crotone airfield in Calabria after setting fire to four or five damaged C.205s that could not be repaired in time.

[17] Commander Falconi assigned them to the most eminent pilots: Sergente Maggiore Luigi Gorrini, Tenente Franco Bordoni-Bisleri and Maresciallo Guido Fibbia.

Except for a crewman killed by strafing, the crew of the Catalina was saved, thanks to a fast vessel of the Royal Navy whose captain was awarded the DSC for battling adverse sea conditions, coastal battery fire and enemy aircraft while rescuing the survivors.

[24] In mid 1943, Gorrini obtained one of the three C.205s delivered to the 3° Stormo (the other two were assigned to other aces, Tenente Franco Bordoni Bisleri and Maresciallo Guido Fibbia).

In six weeks, during the Difesa di Roma, Gorrini became the top scoring C.205 pilot; by the Armistice, he had claimed three Consolidated B-24 Liberators, three Lockheed P-38 Lightnings (three damaged), two B-17s and two Spitfires.

The C.205s, guided by Italian ace Capitano Adriano Visconti, intercepted a formation of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and their escort of Lockheed P-38 Lightnings bombing RIV factories in Villar Perosa.

According to one author: At the start of February 1944, 1° Gruppo was transferred to a base on the outskirts of Reggio Emilia, with the task of attacking Allied four-engined bombers and the P-51s that escorted them.

Dogfights with the aircraft that could be considered the best fighter of the time meant that the Italian pilots were hard pressed; however they were able to claim 58 Mustangs, though at a high price.

and 60 Bf 109 from JG.77 joined combat with about 450 Allied bombers and their escorts, shooting down at least four enemy aircraft, but Corp. Zaccaria was killed while hanging from his parachute again by a P-38 pilot who fired at him from close range.

The Allies were less generous with the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force (ICAF), and Veltros, including some upgraded C.202s, were slowly replaced with worn-out P-39s and Spitfires, but not before summer 1944.

A small batch of C.205s were in service with the Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia, Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske (ZNDH) in 1944, but the Croatian "Veltros" flew few sorties and were soon overwhelmed by the waves of Allied fighters that swarmed over Yugoslavian skies.

On 30 June 1944, three recently arrived C.205s, flown by Eastern Front veterans (Major Josip Helebrant, Oberleutenant Ljudevit "Lujo" Bencetic[39] and Feldwebel Bozidar "Bosko" Bartulovic[40]), along with three inexperienced pilots in C.202s, took off to intercept USAAF Fifteenth Air force bombers heading to bomb Blechhammer, location of Nazi Germany chemical plants, prisoner of war (POW) camps, and forced labor camps.

[42] Production of the C.205 continued in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War; the Aeronautica Militare Italiana (AMI) proceeded to take delivery of Macchi-built C.205s until late 1948.