Macchi MC.200 Saetta (Lightning)

The Macchi MC.200 Saetta (Lightning) was an Italian fighter aircraft developed when Italy entered the Second World War. It was a single seat fighter plane created by Dr Mario Castoldi, chief designer of the Aeronautica Macchi Company. The Macchi MC.200 Saetta (Lightning) was the first Italian design to have a cantilever low-wing monoplane with fully retractable main landing gear.

The Macchi MC.200 Saetta (Lightning) was the result of the great need of the Italian Air in expansion of modern warplanes. The need for the Macchi MC.200 Saetta (Lightning) was based on this idea. One of the features of the Macchi MC.200 Saetta (Lightning) is the engine’s low-chord cowling with a ring of raised fairings over the rocker arm covers. It fulfilled an Italian Air Force need for a new generation of piston-engine fighters to fill the ranks of the Regia Aeronautica. Initially, the plane experienced a few problems such as low power, low endurance, but the most dangerous was the tendency to stall at high elevation due to the wings avionics.

Apart from actions in North Africa, the Macchi MC.200 Saetta (Lightning) saw combat in the Soviet Union, Malta and Greece. The design survived throughout the war but was outclassed through much of it. It experienced some major problems during the war due to which it was outclassed. In the last few months of the war, the Mc.200 was used against the Allied landings in southern Italy. In September, 1943 of the originally produced 1,153 Mc.200, only less than 100 were left.

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