Customer Reviews

Macchi C.202 in Action - Aircraft No. 41

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Roberto Gentilli's "Macchi C. 202 in Action" provides an interesting if somewhat unbalanced look at this important Italian World War II fighter. Gentilli begins by briefly describing the developmental history of the C. 202 (a.k.a. MC 202) Folgore, a sleek inline engined descendant of the radial-engined Macchi MC 200 Saetta. He then goes on to describe in great detail the MC 202's operational combat history, from the deserts of Northern Africa to the steppes of Russia and finally (in the form of the re-engined MC 205) in defense of the Italian homeland during 1942-1943. In a format consistent with Squadron/Signal Publications "In Action" series, the book includes a wealth of photographs, line drawings of the MC 202 and MC 205, and two pages of color paintings.

Where Gentilli's piece flounders is in his descriptions of the technical development and specifications of the Macchi fighters. His description of the developmental history and different versions of the MC 202 barely warrant mention, although these have been described in some detail by other sources and authors. Furthermore the technical specifications presented on the MC 202 and MC 205 includes only the most basic performance, weights, and dimension information. Finally it also probably would have made sense to include the earlier MC 200 fighter in this book as well for completeness sake, and change the title to "Macchi Fighters in Action."

Overall however the operational history of the MC 202 and MC 205 is well researched and the illustrations are very interesting, making "Macchi C. 202 in Action" a good though not great source of information on this important Italian fighter.

The general text is interesting only for one that discovers that famous family of fighters, although I learned some details I did not know before. A very satisfying point : the photos are well chosen the most of which not already seen in other books. There are errors in the black and white drawings, a non-uncommon fact in Squadron-Signal publications. The color drawings are pretty good, some minor errors occuring here and there. But watch the color drawing at the top of the rear cover page : the mechanics working around a Folgore are out of scale with the plane !