レッジャーネ
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
会社
- 要するに
- 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
生産
- 最もよく知られているのは
- Re.2000からRe.2005戦闘機
- 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
今日
- 今
- Aircraft work ended 1945
- Company liquidated in 1951 after a year-long occupation
- Fantuzzi Reggiane port-crane brand owned by Konecranes since 2017
数字
- ピーク時の従業員
- up to 11,000
- Re.2000 exported to Hungary and Sweden
- 70 and 60
- Aviation share of turnover
- 80%1939年～1942年
- Workers killed, 28 July 1943
- 9
Every notable Reggiane aircraft
Photos: Alan Wilson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
| 航空機 | 役割 | 初飛行 | 建設済み | 状態 | 注記 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piaggio P.32bis | 中型爆撃機 | 1937 | 退職 | First aircraft produced by the works, developed by the Caproni group’s study office | |
| Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 (licence) | Three-engine bomber | 退職 | Built under SIAI-Marchetti licence | ||
| Reggiane Re.2000 Falco I | ファイター | 1939 | 180 | 退職 | Mostly exported to Hungary and Sweden (J 20); total from variant counts |
| Reggiane Re.2001 Falco II | Fighter and night fighter | 1940 | 252 | 退職 | First of the Reggianes with an inline engine |
| Reggiane Re.2002 Ariete | 戦闘爆撃機 | 1940 | 退職 | 200 ordered in 1941; flew against the Sicily landings | |
| Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario | ファイター | 1942 | 48 by Sept 1943 | 退職 | 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. そのうち、現在も運用されているものはゼロです。.
| 空軍 | 使用中 | 以前は飛行していた |
|---|---|---|
| ハンガリー空軍 | Reggiane Re.2000 および MÁVAG Héja I/II | |
| イタリア空軍 | レジアーネ Re.2000 ファルコ | |
| イタリア海軍航空隊 | Reggiane Re.2000 カタパルタビル | |
| スウェーデン空軍 | レッジャン Re.2000 ファルコ I (J 20) |
Where Reggiane built, who led it, what it achieved
工場
- Reggio Emilia works · Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna — Fourth-largest factory in Italy; razed by Allied bombing 7–8 January 1944
人々
- 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?