Breda B.A.90LWN

[comrade harps]

Breda B.A.90LWN

2./NSGr. 9 , Foiano, Italy, June 1944

As part of the agreement between Fiat and Mitsubishi which saw the Japanese take on the Fiat B.R.20 bomber, Fiat gained licences to build and develop Mitsubishi's G4M bomber and A6M fighter. Although the A6M became a staple of the Japanese Imperial Navy's war effort in the Pacific, in Europe it was sidelined by indigenous types. Being both foreign and a naval fighter, the Regia Aeronautica and Fiat saw little application for the A6M, resulting in Fiat sub-contracting the type's development to Breda for the Regia Marina. As the Breda B.A. 90, only 25 had been built at Breda's Genoa plant by the time of Italy's surrender in August 1943, this reflecting the parlous state of Italy's carrier program.


Following the German occupation of Italy, the production of versions built to Luftwaffe standards was authorized by the RLM. 80 B.A.90LW fighter trainers and 160 B.A.90LWN night attack aircraft for the Luftwaffe's Nachtschlachtgruppen were ordered, of which 87 were built before Allied bombing brought production to an end in July 1944.

The prime user of the B.A.90LWN was Nachtschlachtgruppe 9, based in Italy. The first aircraft reached 2./NSGr. 9 in February 1944 and equipped 1./NSGr. 9 from June. They were flown successfully in the night harassment bombing role until the Separate Peace with the Western Allies (known to the Reds as The Great Betrayal) of 21 August, 1944. With the end of the war in Italy, seven were flown to Austria, but were grounded due to a lack of spares and seized by American occupation troops and scrapped.

[tanktastic43]

Very nice camo scheme. 

tt43.

[GTX]

Nice work & story!   Makes me think about doing a Mediterranean based Mitsubishi Rufe...

Regards,

Greg

[Arc3371]

Interesting color scheme and good story

[sotoolslinger]

Great build and cool story Most especially like the camo

[NARSES2]

I like that 

[kitbasher]

Now there's been a few what if Zeros but none have come up with such an interesting premise - an Italian comnnection.  And when you stop and look the Zero is indeed 'Italianesque'.

[comrade harps]

Thanks guys. I threw everything at this camo. It took a while to get the nerve to attempt the top, bottom and side wellenmuster finish.

The lack of rocker covers did cross my mind, but not all Italian jobs had this feature and I find them distracting rather than charming.

[Pablo1965]

I like the history and the camo. Amazing combination of an Axis element.

[Taiidantomcat]

I threw everything at this camo. It took a while to get the nerve to attempt the top, bottom and side wellenmuster finish.

It really works!  Thats an awesome model that just makes me grin from ear to ear