IMAM Ro.43

[ConroeDoctrine 133]

IMAM Ro.43

General info:

With the rapid expansion and modernization of the Regia Marina in the early 30ies, in particular due to the cruiser classes Zara and Trento, the need for a modern seafaring reconnaissance plane to be catapulted from these new ships became obvious. In 1933 a competition was put forth by the Navy for a plane that could cover said role, with 5 Italian military companies partaking into it. One of the competitors was Aereoplani Romeo, an aircraft manufacturer branch of IMAM, which developed the Ro.43 from the Ro.37, a reconnaissance/light bomber biplane which had already found success in the Regia Aereonautica, and succesfully won the competition due to the vehicle's excellent capabilities, which often even surpassed those of it's foreign counterparts such as the British Fairey Seafox or the Japanese Nakajima E8NE. The Ro.43 was produced in two series, whose main differences where the dorsal gun (from a Lewis to a Breda-SAFAT) and the increased size of the rudder in the IIa serie. This floatplane would go on to be used for the entirety of the war even though serial production stopped after 1940, it's first operational uses was during the Annexation of Albania and at the Battle of Point Stilo, though it's mostly famous for being the scouting plane that succesfully located and intercepted the British ships of Operation Harpoon, an allied plan to resupply Malta, at the time in the middle of a siege from the Regia Aereonautica and the Luftwaffe. This event led to the Battle of Pantelleria/Mezzo Giugno, arguably the biggest victory in the Mediterranean for Italy, which in the aftermath of had succesfully sunk 6 british ships and heavily damaging 7 more, while only having 1 of its ships damaged. the Ro.43 would go on to be used as a base to develop the Ro.44, another very succesful reconnaissance seaplane. One Ro.43 Serie I still exists today and can be seen in the Museo storico dell'Aeronautica Militare in Vigna di Valle.

Armament:

In front of the pilot, behind the propeller: 1 Breda-SAFAT 7.7mm

dorsal mount on a turret: 1 Lewis MG 7.7mm (first serie) or 1 Breda-SAFAT 7.7mm (second serie)

Specifications:

Size: (Lenght: 9,7m) (Height: 3,5m) (Wingspan: 11,6m)

Engine: 700hp Piaggio P.XR

Max. speed: 315Km/h

Action radius; over 1000Km

Fuel Capacity: 696 litres

Total Production: 1 prototype + 156 Ia Serie + 60 IIa Serie (217)

Sources:

Primary Sources:

"Ali D'Italia" n°12 "IMAM Ro.43/44" article by Tullio Marcon

"Nei Cieli di Guerra - La Regia Aereonautica a Colori 1940-1945" by Gregory Alegi and Baldassare Catalanotto

"Storia Militare" n°9 "I velivoli catapultabili in guerra (1939-1945)" by Tullio Marcon

 

Wikipedia link if you wish to read more about the Imam Ro.43

(in English)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAM_Ro.43

(in Italian)

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAM_Ro.43

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAM

Pictures:

[ItssLuBu 1,798]

Approved and open for discussion. 

[Milocat 4,848]

+1 for more tier 1 fun

[Охраняет-Камни 6,650]

+1, armament is quite meh, but still can be a nice low tier plane, especially when 12,7 Bredas get fixed.

[ConroeDoctrine 133]

14 hours ago, ItssLuBu said:

Approved and open for discussion. 

thank you! 

[Conte_Baracca 4,547]

Would LOVE a floatplane.

[ThunderFla 291]

+1 The italian TT really needs some of this Tier 1 bad boys seaplanes. 

They could really bring some more fun to the italian tier1 naval line up. 

Furthermore the fact that an entire aircraft still exists today, will make the research of infos and its modeling way easier. 

[Iskads 104]

would be lovely to see it in the tech tree

[Nicholas_Concu 2,634]

+1 amazing 

[RytisLTU1 2,585]

+1

[coritiba1909 61]

+1

[AVROVULCANXH558 349]

I see floatplane, I say +1

[VT_88 342]

Yes, we need a float plane.

 

We need to have the float plane event again as it was fun!

[RNBolzano 4]

+1

[Robball14 24]

Could be added as the catapult plane for italy in the next major update

[Охраняет-Камни 6,650]

On 05/12/2021 at 01:50, Robball14 said:

Could be added as the catapult plane for italy in the next major update

I really hope that we won't remain behind again

[ConroeDoctrine 133]

Welp, it seems this little beauty will be added as Italy's catapulted scout plane. Lovely to see 

[angelomorte 1,369]

8 hours ago, ConroeDoctrine said:

Welp, it seems this little beauty will be added as Italy's catapulted scout plane. Lovely to see 

missing in tech tree and seemingly having one more gun than usual(some crews I think equipped a second mg. the ro44 also used two)

 

[ConroeDoctrine 133]

57 minutes ago, angelomorte said:

missing in tech tree and seemingly having one more gun than usual(some crews I think equipped a second mg. the ro44 also used two)

 

well in regard to the tech tree thing, I don't have anything against it. after all it was a scout plane that was primarly supposed to, well, scout. I think it would be kinda weird to have it fight other planes in Air RB.

and in regard to the second machinegun, yeah I was aware that some crews modified their Ro.43s to improve their firepower, but I decided to emit it in the suggestion as I thought field modifications would have probably been outside the scope of it (another example is how many crews modified their Ia Serie Ro.43s by changing the Lewis secondary gun for a Breda-SAFAT).

[angelomorte 1,369]

29 minutes ago, ConroeDoctrine said:

well in regard to the tech tree thing, I don't have anything against it. after all it was a scout plane that was primarly supposed to, well, scout. I think it would be kinda weird to have it fight other planes in Air RB.

and in regard to the second machinegun, yeah I was aware that some crews modified their Ro.43s to improve their firepower, but I decided to emit it in the suggestion as I thought field modifications would have probably been outside the scope of it (another example is how many crews modified their Ia Serie Ro.43s by changing the Lewis secondary gun for a Breda-SAFAT).

I wanna find a photo of some madlad strapping 12.7mm to it

 

[DragoShenron@psn 48]

Shame it isn’t in the tech tree by default. Wish I didn’t need the Zara, Trento or Pola to use it

[angelomorte 1,369]

3 hours ago, DragoShenron@psn said:

Shame it isn’t in the tech tree by default. Wish I didn’t need the Zara, Trento or Pola to use it

The pain job is also cool. Obv they couldn't put the names or the right code on the side each one on short notice I guess. The Savoy tail being green is definitely cool. 

[TerraStalker 158]

+1 Would be better than Ju-87 on 1.3

[CokeSpray 7,272]

Suggestion passed to the developers for consideration.