{"id":22319914,"date":"2026-09-14T17:02:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T15:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fiat-g55-centauro-italian-fighter-1943\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T17:03:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T15:03:27","slug":"fiat-g55-centauro-italian-fighter-1943","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fiat-g55-centauro-italian-fighter-1943\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiat G.55 Centauro: Italy\u2019s Best Fighter, Built Too Late"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n\r\n<p>In February 1943 a German evaluation commission arrived at the Italian flight test centre at Guidonia with an Fw 190A-5 and a Bf 109G-4, and spent several weeks flying them against three new Italian fighters.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The head of the commission, Oberst Petersen, telegraphed G\u00f6ring afterwards. His verdict on the Fiat G.55 Centauro was that it was the best fighter in the Axis.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Six months later Italy signed an armistice, and by then thirty-five had been delivered.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:17px;color:#1a1a1a\">Quick Facts<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Designer:<\/strong> Giuseppe Gabrielli, at Fiat in Turin<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>First flight:<\/strong> 30 April 1942, flown by Valentino Cus<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Engine:<\/strong> Fiat RA.1050 RC.58 Tifone, a licence-built Daimler-Benz DB 605A<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Armament:<\/strong> Three 20 mm MG 151\/20, one firing through the propeller hub, plus two 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Speed:<\/strong> 620 km\/h at 7,000 metres, fully loaded, without emergency boost<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Ordered:<\/strong> 1,800, later raised to 2,400<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Actually completed:<\/strong> 164, of which only 35 had been delivered by the armistice of 8 September 1943<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Delivered to the ANR:<\/strong> 148<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Serie 5 competition<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Italy entered the war with fighters that were beautiful, agile and hopelessly underpowered, because Italian industry could not build a competitive high-output inline engine. The answer, eventually, was to licence-build the Daimler-Benz DB 605, and three manufacturers designed fighters around it. These became the Serie 5.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The Macchi C.205 Veltro was the quickest to produce, being a re-engined development of an existing airframe, but its performance faded above eight thousand metres. The Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario was the fastest at altitude and the best dogfighter of the three, and it was also plagued by vibration and required a ruinous amount of labour to build.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The G.55 came second on raw performance and won the contract anyway. It had the strongest airframe, the largest wing, the steadiest handling across the whole altitude band, and the heaviest armament with the deepest ammunition supply. It also had a known vice, a strong yaw to the left on take-off, partially cured by offsetting the fin.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/fiat-g55-centauro-anr-livery-preserved.jpg\" alt=\"A preserved Fiat G.55 Centauro in ANR livery\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A preserved Centauro in the markings of the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana. The large wing is the most obvious visual signature and the reason for its high-altitude behaviour. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the Germans actually said<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The Guidonia trials are the source of the G.55\u2019s modern reputation, and the reputation is slightly bigger than the document.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Luftwaffe officers had visited in December 1942 and come away impressed enough that the matter reached G\u00f6ring within days. The formal commission under Oberst Petersen, with Flugbaumeister Malz, began testing on 20 February 1943. The G.55 was rated excellent, the Re.2005 excellent but too complex to build, the C.205 average.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;the best fighter in the Axis&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Oberst Petersen<\/strong> &mdash; Head of the German evaluation commission at Guidonia, telegraphing G\u00f6ring, February 1943<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>That line has been doing heavy lifting for eighty years. The written trials summary is more measured, and worth quoting properly, because it is a better description of the aeroplane than the telegram.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Equal to German planes in climb and high altitude performance. Superior in armament and range to the German planes.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>German evaluation commission<\/strong> &mdash; Comparative fighter trials report, Guidonia, February 1943<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The same report also recorded that the G.55 was slower by 25 km\/h, which the Germans attributed to the Italian-built DB 605 delivering around a hundred horsepower less than the German original; that the view from the cockpit was worse than on German types; and that aileron forces were high. Its conclusion was that the G.55 was the best Italian aircraft in the trials, which is a narrower claim than Petersen\u2019s.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Even so, on 22 February 1943 a meeting chaired by G\u00f6ring, with Petersen, Milch and Galland present, voted to put the G.55 into production in Germany. Kurt Tank flew one at Rechlin, was enthusiastic, and was in Turin that October to discuss manufacturing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tuI7ApKU-rQ\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why Germany did not build it<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Arithmetic. An early G.55 absorbed something like fifteen thousand man-hours, against a target of nine thousand and an actual figure of around five thousand for a Bf 109. Germany in 1943 did not need a slightly better fighter that took three times as long to build; it needed volume.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Allied bombing settled the rest. A raid on Turin on 25 April 1944 destroyed fifteen completed G.55s. The three DB 603 engines the Luftwaffe had supplied for development went to Kurt Tank\u2019s Ta 152C instead, and German production of the Centauro was quietly abandoned.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/fiat-g55-centauro-vigna-di-valle-museum.jpg\" alt=\"A Fiat G.55 Centauro at the Italian Air Force Museum at Vigna di Valle\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Centauro at Vigna di Valle. Of 2,400 ordered, 164 were completed. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A short and awkward war<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>After the armistice the G.55 served with the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, the air arm of the German-backed Italian Social Republic, from November 1943. Ninety-seven of the 164 aircraft completed were built after the armistice, under German supervision, until production was stopped in September 1944.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The ANR units were then progressively forced to give up their Centauros and convert onto Bf 109Gs, a decision the Italian pilots resented and complained about, since most of them considered the G.55 the better aeroplane. Given the German trials report rated the two broadly comparable, they had a case.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RkfKr_wcdks\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The long afterlife<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The interesting part is what happened next. Fiat restarted production in 1946 from leftover airframes, building the single-seat G.55A and the two-seat G.55B. The Italian air force took nineteen and ten respectively. Argentina bought thirty G.55As and fifteen G.55Bs, and in the anti-Per\u00f3n coup attempt of September 1951 some of them tried to defect to the rebels and were impounded on landing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Then the DB 605 stocks ran out. So Fiat re-engined the airframe with a Rolls-Royce Merlin and called it the G.59, which is a pleasing final twist: an Italian fighter designed around a German engine, finishing its career on a British one. The Italian air force flew G.59s at Lecce until 1964, nearly twenty-two years after the prototype first flew.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>There was one more variant that never was. The G.56 fitted the larger DB 603A and reportedly out-turned both the Bf 109G and the Fw 190A in testing during 1944. Two were built. The Germans blocked it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AyrDBs_T0-0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Centauro is the clearest illustration of a problem that ran through the whole Italian war effort: the designs were competitive, and the industry behind them was not. Gabrielli produced an aircraft the Luftwaffe wanted to build under licence, and Italy managed 164 of them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: German comparative fighter trials report, Guidonia, February 1943, transcribed at ww2aircraft.net; Nino Arena, La Regia Aeronautica; Italian Air Force Museum, Vigna di Valle.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What was the Fiat G.55 Centauro?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">An Italian single-seat fighter designed by Giuseppe Gabrielli around the licence-built Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine. It first flew on 30 April 1942 and won the Serie 5 competition against the Macchi C.205 and Reggiane Re.2005 on strength, stability and armament.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Was the G.55 really the best Axis fighter?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">That phrase comes from Oberst Petersen\u2019s telegram to G\u00f6ring after the February 1943 Guidonia trials. The written trials report was more measured, rating the G.55 equal to German types in climb and high-altitude performance, superior in armament and range, but 25 km\/h slower.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did Germany not build the Fiat G.55?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Man-hours. An early G.55 took around fifteen thousand man-hours against roughly five thousand for a Bf 109. Germany needed volume, not a marginally better fighter that took three times as long to build. Allied bombing of Turin finished the idea off.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many Fiat G.55s were built?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Only 164, against orders for 2,400. Just 35 had been delivered by the armistice of 8 September 1943. Ninety-seven more were completed afterwards under German supervision before production was halted in September 1944, with 148 going to the ANR.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What was the Fiat G.59?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The post-war development of the same airframe re-engined with a Rolls-Royce Merlin, after stocks of the German DB 605 ran out. The Italian air force flew G.59 trainers from Lecce until 1964, more than two decades after the G.55 prototype first flew.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did any other country operate the G.55?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. Argentina bought thirty single-seat G.55As and fifteen two-seat G.55Bs after the war. During the attempted anti-Per\u00f3n coup of September 1951 some tried to defect to the rebels and were impounded on landing. Syria later operated G.59s.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Can I fly in a historic fighter aircraft?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">MiGFlug flies civilians in genuine military jets including the L-39 Albatros and the MiG-29 Fulcrum, with professional crews from approved airfields. Details and pricing are at <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/flights-prices\/\">migflug.com\/flights-prices<\/a>.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the Fiat G.55 Centauro?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"An Italian single-seat fighter designed by Giuseppe Gabrielli around the licence-built Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine. It first flew on 30 April 1942 and won the Serie 5 competition against the Macchi C.205 and Reggiane Re.2005 on strength, stability and armament.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Was the G.55 really the best Axis fighter?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"That phrase comes from Oberst Petersen\u2019s telegram to G\u00f6ring after the February 1943 Guidonia trials. The written trials report was more measured, rating the G.55 equal to German types in climb and high-altitude performance, superior in armament and range, but 25 km\/h slower.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did Germany not build the Fiat G.55?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Man-hours. An early G.55 took around fifteen thousand man-hours against roughly five thousand for a Bf 109. Germany needed volume, not a marginally better fighter that took three times as long to build. Allied bombing of Turin finished the idea off.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many Fiat G.55s were built?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Only 164, against orders for 2,400. Just 35 had been delivered by the armistice of 8 September 1943. Ninety-seven more were completed afterwards under German supervision before production was halted in September 1944, with 148 going to the ANR.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the Fiat G.59?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The post-war development of the same airframe re-engined with a Rolls-Royce Merlin, after stocks of the German DB 605 ran out. The Italian air force flew G.59 trainers from Lecce until 1964, more than two decades after the G.55 prototype first flew.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did any other country operate the G.55?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. Argentina bought thirty single-seat G.55As and fifteen two-seat G.55Bs after the war. During the attempted anti-Per\u00f3n coup of September 1951 some tried to defect to the rebels and were impounded on landing. Syria later operated G.59s.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Can I fly in a historic fighter aircraft?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"MiGFlug flies civilians in genuine military jets including the L-39 Albatros and the MiG-29 Fulcrum, with professional crews from approved airfields. Details and pricing are at migflug.com\/flights-prices.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/macchi-c-202-folgore-italy-best-fighter\/\">Macchi C.202 Folgore: Italy\u2019s Best Fighter<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/aerfer-sagittario-2-ariete-italy-supersonic-fighter\/\">Aerfer Sagittario 2: Italy\u2019s Supersonic Fighter That Never Was<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/macchi-mc72-fastest-seaplane-record\/\">Macchi MC.72: The Fastest Seaplane Ever Built<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A German commission flew it against the Bf 109G and Fw 190 and called it the best fighter in the Axis. Italy managed to build 164 of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":22319341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22319914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fiat G.55 Centauro: Italy\u2019s Best Fighter | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A German commission flew the Fiat G.55 against the Bf 109G and Fw 190 and called it the best fighter in the Axis. 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