Warbird Information Exchange

The Italian Air Force recovered a Reggiane Re.2000 fighter today. The operation was done free of charge by the same company who recently righted the cruse ship Concordia. The plane was found one year ago by Italian military divers conducting mine countermeasure training. The aircraft is currently in a desalination tank. It will ultimately be restored and placed in the Italian Air Force Museum.

What an incredible find..kudos to the recovery crew! It looks pretty rough, but there have been restorations that started with less. Was any of the tail recovered as well?

I've always heard that the design was heavily influenced/inspired by the Seversky P-35. Is this the only surviving example? It seems like I recall seeing a pic of one in a Swedish musuem.

SN

Preservedaxisaircraft.com shows a complete one in Sweden and a fuselage with engine mount in Italy.

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Maybe the Swedes will let them have their extra tail section:

Always liked the looks of this machine

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“Knowing what’s right, doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

The airplane is OK, but that trailer is amazing!!! You would be the only kid on the block to have one if that was yours!

Hey Ober,
thats funny, i just scrolled down and was admiring the trailer too, then read your post........
wonder if you can back the trailer up to the front of the plane, extend the arm and rotate the plane up to the vertical position. That is a very cool design!!

Simon

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"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"

Is it just me or does it look like a Thunderbolt all wrapped up and on that trailer.

That trailer and bird would make a very cool modeling subject!

If you compare the planforms of the P-35, P-43, and P-47, you'll see a huge amount of family resemblance. Alexander Kartveli was the designer for both Seversky and Republic, and designed all 3. Republic was the company that resulted with Alexander Seversky was booted from his company, so there is a direct lineage.

Could the trailer be connected with the following?
Wiki
The Regia Marina (Italian Navy), however, experimented with a carrier version (Serie II) which was successfully launched by catapult. Lacking a carrier, Italy used a similar system to the British CAM ships equipped with Hurricanes. The first proposal was made in late December 1940, although the program officially began with an order issued in April 1943. The first modified Re.2000 Cat. (taken from the Swedish orders) flew on 27 June 1941, the last on 18 January 1942 (MM.8282-8288), but crashed on 10 September. There was another navalized Re.2000, the MM.471. It flew initially with a lower powered A.74 RC.38 engine, but it was lost too, during the travel from Reggio Emilia to Taranto (12 May 1941). The first launch was performed on 9 May 1942 with test pilot Giulio Reiner.[11] The work to make suitable the Re.2000 Cat., nicknamed Ochetta (little goose) took considerable time and only at the beginning of 1943 were they used aboard the Littorio class, but not more than one for every ship (although capable of holding three aircraft). Initially the Re.2000 Cat. aircraft were issued to Littorio and Vittorio Veneto, while Roma followed only in the summer, after testing had taken place aboard the RN Miraglia.
[11] Harrauer, Franco. "Re.2000 Catapultabile." Aerei nella Storia, W.Ward editions, Parma ago-September 2008, pp. 49–50

What does it do to a radial to be tipped like that?

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Chris Mellor

Where was the Reggiane Re.2000? If it was in salt water, then I hope they put in a bath of fresh water ala the Do-17 recovery. It would be a shame to see it dry out to aluminum oxide dust!

Bill K

wow!! talk about a diamond in the rough!! probably rarer or as rare as any Japanese recovery!! i'll be watching the status on this 1!! I have a cruver bakelite model of the type & an ultra rare sperry licensed directional gyro w/ the italian tags still on it in cherry condition. I will consider selling it for the right price.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

wow!! talk about a diamond in the rough!! as rare or rarer than any Japanese recovery!! I have a cruver bakelite i.d. model of the type & an ultra rare sperry licensed directional gyro that still has the Italian air force tags on it & in near cherry condition. will consider selling it for the rarity it commands re: price.



double post.... sorry

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Yes, the article said the airplane will go through a desalination process prior to being put on display.

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"According to the map, we've only gone 4 inches."

It ditched on April 16, 1943. The pilot got out safely. I'm hoping the rest of the plane was close by and recovered, but I don't know the answer.



Reggiane's head designer, Roberto Longhi, worked for Seversky in the 1930's. His final wartime prop design was the Re.2005, which was powered by a license built copy of the DB 605. The Re.2005 gives a good sense of what the P-47 would have looked like if Republic had decided to use an in-line engine:



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