1:48 Special Hobby SH48229 Fiat Br.20 Cicogna"Bomber over Two Conti

The Fiat BR.20 Cicogna (Italian for "stork") was the only Italian twin-engine bomber in service with the Regia Aeronautica during World War II. The Italian Ministry of Aviation issued specifications for a new heavy twin-engine bomber in 1934. The first prototype of the BR.20 flew for the first time on 10 February 1936 and entered service in September of that year. The first series had a Breda DR dorsal turret with two 7.7 mm machine guns. Subsequent series received a Breda M.1 dorsal turret with one 12.7 mm machine gun. Compared to the competing SM.79, the Fiat BR.20 had a shorter range, but a greater payload and a more suitable bomb storage. Thanks to this, it achieved much higher bombing accuracy than other Italian bombers. Italy tested its Fiat BR.20s during the deployment of the Aviazione Legionaria on the side of Franco in the Spanish Civil War. A total of thirteen aircraft were deployed in Spain. They took part in the raids in the Battle of the Ebro and the bombing of Teruel and proved themselves. At the beginning of World War II, some obsolescence was already apparent, but the Fiats nevertheless fought over southern France in 1940, as well as over the Mediterranean, Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece. It was precisely as a reaction to the gradual obsolescence of the Fiat BR.20 that a modernized version, the BR.20M, was designed and put into production in 1939. The Fiats BR.20s were exported. The only Fiat purchased by Venezuela is a marginal matter; the second export was much more significant, when Japan ordered a total of 82 BR.20s at the end of 1937. Japan had been fighting in China since July 1937 and urgently needed heavy bombers. From February 1938, the BR.20s were deployed in combat. Since the BR.20s operated at long distances without fighter protection, they suffered quite significant losses. The Japanese also found the aircraft difficult to maintain and the BR.20s were gradually withdrawn from training in the second half of 1939 and replaced by the new Ki-21s.
The kit offers decals of one aircraft operating in Spain, one aircraft of the Italian Regia Aeronautica and one aircraft of the Japanese Army Air Force. The latter returned from a raid in Manchuria damaged by fire from Chinese fighters, as shown in the box art.



- very interesting camouflage variants
- the only available model of the Fiat Br.20 in 1/48 scale
- kit contains resin parts and etchings