Fiat G.46

Fiat G.46
Type:	Trainer aircraft
Design country:	Italy
Manufacturer:	Fiat
First flight:	June 25, 1947
Commissioning:	1949-1952
Number of pieces:	223

The Fiat G.46 is a trainer aircraft from the Italian manufacturer Fiat .

history

After the end of the Second World War, the Italian air forces were looking for a new trainer for basic training, who should also enable the Italian aviation industry to restart. Fiat then came from the designer Giuseppe Gabrielli with the G.46, the first single-engine design after the end of the war, the prototype for the first version G.46-1B was manufactured from the end of 1946. The draft was financially only possible because Argentina acted as a donor and among other things also ordered 70 G.46s. At first only 25 machines were ordered by the Italian Air Force. The first flight of the machine took place on June 25, 1947 in Turin with Vittore Catella at the wheel. The prototype crashed at Guidonia on June 21, 1949 , killing the pilot. The version for Argentina delivered between the summer of 1948 and 1950 received a de Havilland Gypsy Queen engine as well as changes in the avionics , as this engine was already in use there. Skids could also be fitted for use in the Andes . Syria also ordered ten machines, which were delivered in 1949. The civil version was marketed as a sport aircraft. A total of 223 machines, 150 of which for the Italian Air Force, had been produced by the end of production in 1952.

construction

A Fiat G.46-B4 of the Austrian Air Force in the aviation exhibition at the Hinterstoisser Air Base in Zeltweg

The G.46 is an all - metal low- wing aircraft that borrows from the fighter aircraft of the Second World War with its narrow, elliptical, streamlined fuselage. The front fuselage was made in half-shell construction , the rear fuselage in full-shell construction. The two-spar wings were equipped with four landing flaps and two fabric-covered ailerons . The landing gear consisted of a main landing gear retractable inwards into the wing and a non-retractable tail wheel . An air-cooled in-line engine Alfa Romeo 115-1bis with 115 kW power and a two-bladed controllable pitch propeller from Hamilton Standard were used as drive .

Versions

• G.46B prototype
• G.46-1B - two-seater with Alfa Romeo 115bis engine
• G.46-2B - two-seater with a de Havilland Gipsy Queen 30 engine with 182 kW and 7.7 mm MG, first flight February 2, 1948
• G.46-3B - two-seater with Alfa Romeo 115ter engine and improved radio and navigation equipment as well as preparation for the 7.7 mm machine gun, first flight October 15, 1948
• G.46-4B - two-seater with improved Alfa Romeo 115ter engine, replaced the 3B from 1951
• G.46-5B - Two-seat navigation trainer (prototype only)
• G.46-3A - single seater like 3B with Alfa Romeo 115ter engine
• G.46-4A - single-seater equivalent to 4B with improved Alfa Romeo 115ter engine

Military users

•  Argentina : 12 G46-2B from 1947 to 1961 and 36 G.46-5B from 1949 to 1958
•  Italy
•  Austria : 5 G 46-4B from 1957 to 1965
•  Syria : approx. 40 G.46-4 and G.46-5B from 1949 to 1958

Technical specifications

Parameter	Data G.46-3A
crew	1
length	8.48 m
span	10.40 m
height	2.40 m
Wing area	16.0 m²
Empty mass	1055 kg
Max. Takeoff mass	1350 kg
Top speed	315 km / h
Service ceiling	6100 m
Range	880 km
Engines	an Alfa Romeo 115-1 ter with 165 kW (224 PS)

Museum reception

• A Fiat G 46-4B Series 4 of the Austrian Armed Forces is exhibited in the military aviation exhibition in Zeltweg in Hangar 8 of the Hinterstoisser Air Base , a branch of the Vienna Army History Museum .

See also

• List of aircraft types

Web links

Commons : Fiat G.46  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• Fiat G.46 (Aldini)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Flug Revue October 2010, pp. 108–111, installation aid - Fiat G.46
2. ↑ Doppeladler.com
3. ↑ on doppeladler.com , accessed on September 10, 2013