Yes I thought about that possibility Clint but rather dismissed it since the French designated the
Italian built aircraft as CAP.1 or CAP.2
The CAP.3 (Ca.5) obviously got SFA numbers (I send over the best photo I have of No 502 to you)
But you could well be right that the French never assigned any SFA numbers to the Italian imported Ca.1 and 3s
Heaven knows how the military minds worked back then
Main problems as I see it, besides too little remaining documents, are:
a) How many Ca.1 and Ca.3 were imported to France?
If the number was big, why are there no photos of them?
b) Why were so many CEP 1 built compared to CEP 2? Soltan/Davila claims the CEP 1 was under-
powered and not much favoured while in Italy the type seems to have been quite liked.
c) Alegi claims 89 were built in France. The article above says 90 but does not account for the
No 132
d) Why did the No 1 - 60 (sic) carry these numbers on the fin while No 101 - 132 carried them on
the fuselage?
Interesting topic this one Clint!!
Cheers
Stig