According to many reports, MAW flight models testing are in a much advanced stage. An agent has stolen a flight log made by a Regia Aeronautica pilot about a test flight with the new Fiat Cr. 42. The translation is on the right.
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Plane for test: Fiat CR-42
Test Pilot: Donato Frederigi
Date: April 1940
Place: Cascina Vaga, Italy
Time: 5:30 AM
Weather: almost clear, some high altitude sheep clouds , with very little wind - Visibility: 20 km
The engine ran perfectly, although it coughed 2 times when I started it, before it caught on.
Oil carburator pressure: Normal
Oil Temp: Normal
Engine Temp: Normal
I took off with 75% throttle and it didnt need much runway to get airborne. It is a very easy aircraft to take off and land in. Didnt require much right rudder to stay on track on take off, torque is not too bad.
I took it up to 1500 feet and leveled out. Pushed the throttle to 100% to see how fast the aircraft is.
At 1500 feet I trimmed it to fly as level as possible and I got it up to 233 mph. Not bad. It was easy to tim and I was able to fly it without holding ther controls for several minutes. New pilots will like this plane as it is rather easy to fly.
I went up to 5000 feet, leveled out and trimmed it for maximum speed and level flight. 243 MPH was all I got out of it. Not outstanding but not too bad for such a small aircraft. The engine behaved nicely, both on the climb and at level flight at 5000 feet.
After 30 minutes I took it up to 10.000 feet. Had to play around with the fuel mix to get the engine to behave. It sputtered and coughed a little before I got the mix right. Seems the caurbator might need maintainance.
At 10.000 feet I got the plane up to 255 mph.
I am sure the engineers will be pleased with this.
I wanted to see how it behaved in a spin, so I yanked the cotrols back and tried a very sharp left turn. It went into a spin a bit too easily, but I was able to recover from the spin quite nicely and without too much fuss.
As I stated earlier, new pilots will love this plane as it is very forgiving to fly for a newcomer.
After the spin I took it inot a very steep dive to see how the structure would handle it and how fast the plane will go.
At 333 mph the plane started creaking very unpleasantly and I saw a very small crack appear in the left wing close to the fuselage. It was not too hard to pul it out of the dive.
Need to get the engineers to check it out for structural damage.
I am looking forward to the next test flight after the mechanic has taken a look at the carburator. I hope it will behave better tomorrow.
Test Pilot
Donato Frederigi |
