Breda Ba.65

Breda Ba.65
Type:	Ground attack aircraft
Design country:	Italy
Manufacturer:	Breda
First flight:	September 1935
Commissioning:	1937
Number of pieces:	218

The Breda Ba.65 Nibbio (Habicht) was a single-engine Italian ground attack aircraft from 1935 that was used both in the Spanish Civil War and in the first years of World War II . The Ba.65 , which was also delivered to various other countries, was way ahead of its time and performed quite well in its intended role, but could not achieve its full potential in use due to insufficient engine power. Their last missions were in North Africa towards the end of February 1941.

history

The Breda Ba.65 first flew in September 1935. For that time on a concept presented Colonnello based Mecozzi machine an advanced concept is: a two-seat attack aircraft , which with on-board weapons to attack and light bombing targets on the front or directly behind it, similar to what other air forces have realized. The Italian machine, however, suffered from the fact that the Italian engine industry could only provide engines with moderate power. The planes were built at Breda and Caproni .

The Regia Aeronautica ordered 81 aircraft in 1936, which were later followed by more. However, the concept of direct ground combat support in the Regia Aeronautica was controversial and many pilots were not sufficiently trained in low-level flight. On the one hand, the fighter pilots complained about the cumbersome controls, while the bomber pilots, on the other hand - actually used to less maneuverable machines - praised their agility. This ambiguous assessment of their flight characteristics did not make the development of a coherent operational concept any easier.

However, it quickly became apparent that the machine could hardly take off with a maximum bomb load and was very difficult to fly even with a reduced load. To save weight, the gun turret for the gunner was replaced by an open stand. Basically, however, the Ba.65 was easy to fly, just too weakly motorized. Thirteen machines went directly into the Spanish Civil War , another eleven were delivered as replacement machines. The machines were used in the battles of Teruel and Santander by the Franco nationalists .

In Spain, however, the Ba.65 were mostly used as a fighter plane to intercept the SB-2 bombers supplied by the Soviet Union . The Fiat CR.32 biplane fighters supplied by Italy were too slow for that. Therefore, the Ba.65 flew in Spain without rear guns and without a bomb bay. However, they were later reinstated in their original roles.

The machine proved its worth as a single-seater, so that from 1939 all Italian Ba.65 were flown only as single-seater. However, production was stopped in July 1939 after 218 machines. It was planned to use the Ba.65 only to bridge the gap until the introduction of the successor model Breda Ba.88 . The machines were supposed to be scrapped in 1940. However, since the Ba.88, in contrast to the Ba.65, turned out to be a faulty design, the Ba.65 machines were relocated to North Africa at the beginning of the Second World War to fight British troops.

Until the spring of 1941, the planes did a good job in their original role, attacking British columns of vehicles in the desert at low altitude. The losses from flak fire were very high, but on the other hand, British fighter squadrons over North Africa were still equipped with outdated Gloster Gladiator double-deckers, which were slower than the Ba.65. By February 1941, most of the machines were either lost in combat or no longer operational. In Cyrenaica , many machines were left behind as wrecks and later - but flightless - captured by the British.

25 machines were sold to Iraq in 1938 . During the military coup in 1941, these were used with little success against British troops in the country.

Chile bought twenty machines and Portugal ten. Interestingly, even the Soviet Union bought ten copies of this type, but these were only tested; The basis for the operational concept of the Il-2 was later developed from experience with these machines .

The Ba.65 was a very progressive concept in 1935, but could not fully exploit its potential due to the insufficient power of the engines. A total of 281 machines were manufactured (16 of which were pilot series ).

variants

Ba.65	Single-seat version as an attack aircraft
Ba.65bis	Two-seat version for training

Military users

Italy	1935-1941	150 machines
Chile	1935-1941	20 machines
Spain	1936-1948	13 machines
Kingdom of Iraq	1938-1942	25 machines
Portugal	1938-1950	10 machines
Soviet Union	1938-1940	10 machines

Technical specifications

Parameter	Data
crew	1
length	9.30 m
span	12.10 m
Wing area	23.5 m²
height	3.20 m
drive	1 × 18-cylinder double radial engine Fiat A.80 RC.41 with 1000 PS (746 kW)
Top speed	430 km / h
Range	550 km
Service ceiling	6300 m
Empty mass	2400 kg
Max. Takeoff mass	2950 kg
Armament	2 × 7.7 mm machine guns, 2 × 12.7 mm machine guns Breda-SAFAT, 200–400 kg bombs in the fuselage shaft, another 200 kg on external load carriers possible, as a two-seater another 7.7 mm machine gun either in the tower or in the open rear stand.

See also

• List of aircraft types

literature

• Enzo Angelucci, Paolo Matricardi: World Aircraft. World War II. Volume I. Sampson Low Guides, Maidenhead 1978, ISBN 0-562-00096-8 .
• David Mondey: Breda Ba.65. In: The Hamlyn Concise Guide to Axis Aircraft of World War II. Bounty Books, New York 2006, ISBN 0-7537-1460-4 .
• Michael JH Taylor: Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation Vol. 2. Grolier Educational Corporation, Danbury 1980, ISBN 0-7106-0710-5 .
• Jim Winchester: Breda Ba.65. In: Aircraft of World War II (The Aviation Factfile). Grange Books plc, Kent 2004, ISBN 1-84013-639-1 .

Web links

Commons : Breda Ba.65  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Breda Ba.65 (Russian)