雷吉亚内
A railway-wagon works in Reggio Emilia that Count Caproni turned into the maker of Italy’s best-looking fighters, until Allied bombs flattened it and its workers occupied it for a year.
Reggiane: the company and the aircraft that made its name
Wagons, shells and a count
Reggiane began in August 1901 as a small foundry and machine shop founded in Reggio Emilia by the engineer Romano Righi, his father Policarpo and the local railway chief Giuseppe Menada, who promptly ordered railway wagons from it. By 1912 it was Reggiane Officine Meccaniche Italiane, making locomotives and, during the First World War, artillery shells. The 1930 slump ruined it. The state rescue agency IRI took control in 1933, and in 1935 Count Giovanni Caproni, sensing that Fascist rearmament was coming, bought the majority. At its height the Reggio Emilia plant employed as many as 11,000 people and was the fourth largest factory in Italy.
The Falco and the Sagittario
Under Caproni the works built Piaggio engines and SM.79 bombers under licence, then its own fighters. A team led by Roberto Longhi and Antonio Alessio produced the Re.2000 Falco, which first flew on 24 May 1939. The Regia Aeronautica was unimpressed, so 80 per cent went abroad, to Hungary and Sweden. Its descendants were better: the Re.2001, of which 252 were built, the Re.2002 fighter-bomber, and the DB 605-powered Re.2005 Sagittario, first flown on 9 May 1942. Only 48 were delivered before the September 1943 armistice, but it was widely judged one of the best-looking fighters of the war.
Bombs, bullets and an occupation
On 28 July 1943, days after Mussolini’s fall, thousands of Reggiane workers marched out of the gates to demand the end of the war. Soldiers opened fire and nine were killed, among them a pregnant woman. Allied raids on 7 and 8 January 1944 razed the plant, and in 1945 the aviation division ceased to exist. In October 1950, facing 2,100 redundancies, the workers began the longest factory occupation in Italian history, building a tracked tractor, the R60, to prove the works could make civilian goods. It ended in October 1951 with liquidation. The name lives on in port cranes, today a Konecranes brand.
Reggiane in numbers
公司
- 简而言之
- Founded 1901
- Founded in Reggio Emilia in August 1901 by Romano Righi, Policarpo Righi and Giuseppe Menada
- Controlled by IRI from 1933, by Giovanni Caproni from 1935
- Up to 11,000 employees at its peak
生产
- 最出名的是
- Re.2000 至 Re.2005 战斗机
- Re.2000 Falco: 180 built by Reggiane, plus Hungarian licence Héjas
- Re.2001 Falco II: 252 built
- Re.2005 Sagittario: 48 delivered before the armistice
- Licence-built SM.79 bombers and Piaggio radial engines
今天
- 现在
- Aircraft work ended 1945
- Company liquidated in 1951 after a year-long occupation
- Fantuzzi Reggiane port-crane brand owned by Konecranes since 2017
这些数字
- Peak employees
- up to 11,000
- Re.2000 exported to Hungary and Sweden
- 70 and 60
- Aviation share of turnover
- 80%1939–1942
- Workers killed, 28 July 1943
- 9
Every notable Reggiane aircraft
Photos: Alan Wilson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
| 飞机 | 角色 | 首航 | 建造 | 地位 | 笔记 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piaggio P.32bis | 中型轰炸机 | 1937 | 已退休 | First aircraft produced by the works, developed by the Caproni group’s study office | |
| Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 (licence) | Three-engine bomber | 已退休 | Built under SIAI-Marchetti licence | ||
| Reggiane Re.2000 Falco I | 战斗机 | 1939 | 180 | 已退休 | Mostly exported to Hungary and Sweden (J 20); total from variant counts |
| Reggiane Re.2001 Falco II | Fighter and night fighter | 1940 | 252 | 已退休 | First of the Reggianes with an inline engine |
| Reggiane Re.2002 Ariete | 战斗轰炸机 | 1940 | 已退休 | 200 ordered in 1941; flew against the Sicily landings | |
| Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario | 战斗机 | 1942 | 48 by Sept 1943 | 已退休 | DB 605 engine; one of the three Serie 5 fighters |
Reggiane aircraft in the world’s air forces
4 air forces in the Order of Battle fly or flew Reggiane types. 其中 0 辆仍在服役。.
| 空军 | 在服役 | 以前飞过 |
|---|---|---|
| 匈牙利空军 | Reggiane Re.2000 和 MÁVAG Héja I/II | |
| 意大利空军 | Reggiane Re.2000 Falco | |
| 意大利海军航空兵 | Reggiane Re.2000 弹射器 | |
| 瑞典空军 | Reggiane Re.2000 Falco I (J 20) |
Where Reggiane built, who led it, what it achieved
工厂
- Reggio Emilia works · Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna — Fourth-largest factory in Italy; razed by Allied bombing 7–8 January 1944
人们
- Giovanni Caproni · owner from 1935 — Aviation pioneer who bought Reggiane from IRI
- Roberto Longhi · chief designer — Led the Re.2000 and Re.2005 design teams
- Mario De Bernardi · test pilot — Flew the first Re.2000, Re.2001 and Re.2002
Reggiane, year by year
Founded in Reggio Emilia by Romano Righi
Becomes Società Anonima Officine Meccaniche Reggiane
IRI takes majority control
Giovanni Caproni buys the majority
P.32bis prototype flies
Re.2000 first flight
Hungary orders 70 Re.2000s
Sweden orders 60 Re.2000s
Re.2005 first flight
Nine workers shot dead during an anti-war march
Allied raids raze the works
Aviation division ceases to exist
Workers begin year-long occupation
Occupation ends; company liquidated
Everything people ask about Reggiane
What was Reggiane?
What was the best Reggiane fighter?
Who flew the Re.2000?
Does Reggiane still exist?