A promise, a disappointment

What an ugly aircraft, it looks like a hunchback.

I have no idea how a country that produces vehicles like the Ferrari and Lamborghini could not produce high performance combat vehicles.
 
What an ugly aircraft, it looks like a hunchback.

I have no idea how a country that produces vehicles like the Ferrari and Lamborghini could not produce high performance combat vehicles.
Read years ago that one problem Italian aviation had was they could produce 2,000 HP racing engines for air races, but couldn't figure out how to make a reliable, durable 1,000 HP fighter engine.
 
Read years ago that one problem Italian aviation had was they could produce 2,000 HP racing engines for air races, but couldn't figure out how to make a reliable, durable 1,000 HP fighter engine.

I can understand the problem George, race engines are not designed to last more then one race before a complete strip down and rebuild or even replacement, this level of maintenance on operational aircraft would be impossible.
 
Italy modernized it's air force just at the beginning of a new wave of technological innovation. In 1935 their air force was one of the most modern in the world. By the beginning of WWII it was obsolete. That's how fast technology was moving after the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of world-wide re-armament.
The same thing is happening now. The fifth generation fighter aircraft being produced in a few countries are of very advanced design; so much so that there are reliability issues with some. However, nobody knows how they will fare in combat. Stealth technology may be made obsolete by advances in radar detection. Drones show promise of taking over many missions. Fifth gen aircraft may turn out to be expensive junk. So let's have a war soon, so we can test them.
 
Back
Top