CR30 delivery 1933-1934 - cancelled

[rob van den nieuwendijk]

Hello all,

For the establishment of the very first Jagdgeschwader in 1934 it was planned that this unit was being equipped with Fiat CR30's. In August 1933 this planned establishment was cancelled. Can anyone explain why? What happened?

[Lennart Andersson]

The Fiat CR 30 first appeared in a procurement plan dated 21 July 1933 and 36 were to be acquired as crash equipment for three fighter squadrons. Already in August, the RLM had received information that, contrary to previous consent, these aircraft could not be delivered. Mussolini was reluctant to allow the sensitive export of military aircraft to Germany, fearing politically inconvenient international attention. As a consequence, Jagdgeschwader 1, that would have been set up with these aircraft, could not be activated. Instead Jagdgeschwader 2 at Rechlin was renamed Jagdgeschwader 1 and an additional 36 Arado Ar 65s were entered into the RLM procurement plan as replacements for the Italian fighters.

It would be interesting if anyone has correspondence related to the Fiat CR 30s.

[rob van den nieuwendijk]

Thank you Lennart, very interesting info. Can you share more on this? Are there any original sources supporting all what you just shared? Can you share these with me?

[Leendert]

Some CR 30s came into Luftwaffe service after all due to the Anschluss with Austria.
There are several losses/accidents recorded with this type in 1943 and 1944, mainly in Germany but also Greece.
The 1944 accidents mostly with JG106 (Lachen-Speyersdorf).

Leendert