Fiat Aeritalia G.91 (Gina) (2024)

History of Fiat Aeritalia G. 91 (Gina)

The Fiat Aeritalia G.91 was a Cold War-era Italian single-seat jet fighter with a long service life and only a handful of operators in Europe. It had intended to store the stockpiles of several European allies in a NATO consortium, but circ*mstances dictated that it would be mainly used by the air forces of Italy and West Germany. Portugal became another of the system, albeit a later (perhaps the most active) operator, demonstrating its strengths (and weaknesses) through several conflicts around its colonial interests. Approximately 756 to 770 examples (various sources) were eventually built and delivered, which consisted of two distinct airframes and included specialized shapes, each with a healthy combination of firepower and performance. Her service spanned an impressive thirty-seven years, making her one of the most successful jets of the Cold War albeit little known.

G. 91's nickname is "Gina".

G. 91 Development

The G.91 is derived from a 1953 NATO specification that required light fighters to be capable of "rough fighting" and still be capable of operating at Mach 0. 95 - Of course this platform will also come at a reasonable price. The request was eventually sent to all European airlines as well as Northrop in the US. The intent is that the NATO alliance should be able to deploy a battlefield component that only needs what is available at forward operating bases during the stress of war. The threat has always been a massive invasion of Eastern Europe by the Soviet Air Force and Army, and NATO members need the right tools to deal with and ultimately repel such an attack.

This approach is in stark contrast to the high-end technological marvels that were common during the Cold War, with their own higher acquisition and operating costs.

Perhaps inspired by the successful North American F-86 in the Korean War, Italian aircraft engineer Giuseppe Gabrielli of Fiat Aviazone designed a similar-looking, compact, high-sweep wing, single-seat/single-engine fighter platform that would be relatively Produced at an acceptable cost, requires little on-site maintenance (or special ground equipment), and is crafted with a very basic avionics and weapons delivery kit. The engine chosen for this program became the Bristol Sidley Orpheus turbojet engine. The Fiat Aviazone product was named "G. 91", with the "G" indicating that Gabrielli was directly involved in the design.

The new light fighter has the potential to be used by a wide range of European countries, so a lucrative production contract awaits the winning bidder.

In addition to comments from Fiat and Northrop, Dassault, Sud-Est, Aerfer and Breguet each submitted a possible design. In total, about ten possible aircraft were considered, and the evaluation began on March 18, 1953.

Fiat received orders to build three prototypes and as many as 27 pre-production aircraft.

By 1974 Portugal had changed politically. The UN arms embargo against the current government a year ago made the purchase of such weapons systems nearly impossible, and the new ruling party (and political mentality) finally overthrew the incumbent, allowing the colonial entity's independence movement without further bloodshed .By January 1975, all G.91s were recalled to the Portuguese mainland. In 1976, 14 more retired West German G.91s and 7 two-seat trainers were purchased. Nearly 100 G. 91s ended up in Portuguese inventory.

By 1993, all G.91s were officially phased out and replaced by more modern systems, and the Portuguese ended the solid tradition of Italian fighters.

Fiat G. 91 on the move

The design of the G.91 is reminiscent of the North American F-86 Saber, and more specifically the late model F-86 Saber Dog "nose" nose interceptor. The co*ckpit is mounted behind a short nose assembly, which in turn protrudes forward from the low air intake. The air intakes sucked in a Fiat/Bristol Siddeley Orpheus 803 series turbojet, each capable of up to 5,000 pounds of thrust. The engine components take up most of the space in the lower part of the fuselage, and the turbojet runs a long distance longitudinally inside the fuselage. The front profile of the fuselage is oval, but there is a plate at the bottom.

The wings were swept back at extreme angles along the leading and trailing edges and mounted lower along the sides of the fuselage. Each wing has one pylon on Italian production models, while German models have two such pylons. The innermost positions of these machines were cleared to handle heavier ammunition loads and external fuel tanks. The series are identifiable by their respective boundary layer fences that partially pass through the top of each wing outside the standard underwing pylons. The fins are conventional, dominated by a vertical fin forming the rudder assembly and two raised horizontal planes (the latter on the sides of the fuselage) forming the stabilizers.

The swept surface of all tail surfaces is the same and follows the swept surface of the landing gear, which is a traditional tricycle arrangement with two single-wheel main landing gear legs and a single-wheel nose landing gear.

The pilot sits under a curved two-piece glass canopy for excellent forward and sideways visibility. His "six" section is hindered by the small raised spine that merges with the upper part of the torso. The co*ckpit is well-lit and well-organized, with basic flight displays and system monitors in the front dash.

Control is via a traditional joystick between the pilot's knees. Adjustable sun visors occupy the top of the dashboard, which is flanked by the vertical frame of the front headliner.

Armed

Each operator has slightly different weapons. Standard Italian design with 4 x 12.7 mm (0.50 caliber) Browning M2 air-cooled heavy machine guns as standard. The Luftwaffe replaced this battery with 2 x 30mm DEFA guns (at the expense of increased weight and reduced ammunition).

Four underwing brackets (two on the Italian production version) can support guns of up to 4,000 pounds or less, depending on the production model type. Ammunition may include Matra SNEB 19-round 68mm rocket pods, Hispano SURA R80 80mm rockets, gun pods and most types of conventional throwing weapons.

Auxiliary fuel tanks can be mounted on the base's underwing weapon pylons for increased range or transport.

G.91 performance

The performance of the single-engine arrangement (in the G. 91R model series) yielded a top speed of 668 mph, a range of 715 miles and a service ceiling of 43,000 feet, rising at 6,000 feet per minute. [/p ]

G. 91 variant

The G.91 produced several major models during its tenure, focusing primarily on the basic strike, reconnaissance and trainer model categories. The G.91 designation is used to designate pre-production prototypes and airframes.

The G.91R/1 is a light attack/reconnaissance variant with three nose-mounted camera systems. The G. 91R/1A designation is used to designate the same model number but with modified instruments. The G. 91R/1B features a reinforced internal fuselage.

The G.91R/3 is a special ground attack and reconnaissance model used exclusively by the Luftwaffe. They were equipped with 2 x 30mm cannons, replacing the original 4 x 12.7mm machine guns. A similar G. 91R/4 was fitted with a 4-piece machine gun battery and was powered by a Rolls-Royce engine. The G. 91PAN was used to designate the Frecce Tricolori acrobatic team, which consisted of pre-production G. 91 airframes that were no longer needed. The G. 91 appeared in the Italian Air Force and the Luftwaffe in two trainer forms, the G. 91T/1 and the G. 91T/3.

The Italian G. 91T/1 is a modified model 1 production of the G. 91R/. Of course, the trainer's two-seat tandem layout is different, resulting in a slightly longer fuselage. Instead, all R-Series aircraft are single-seat aircraft.

The G.91Y existed as an aircraft built under the Aeritalia banner and was initially seen as an evolution of the G.91R reconnaissance series. These aircraft essentially evolved into "all-new" aircraft with 2 GE J85 turbojets on top of the original single Orpheus engine. The new arrangement improves the range and payload capacity of the base G.91, as well as improved performance metrics (top speed is now 690 mph).

The first flight took place on December 12, 1966. A pair of 30mm DEFA cannons are standard instead of the original 4 x 12.7mm machine guns. 67 G. 91Ys were in service only with the Aeronautica Militare and were delivered from 1971 to 1975.

G. 91 Operator

In addition to Italy, Germany and Portugal, other limited pilots of the G. 91 include the Greek Air Force, the US Navy and the US Air Force in Greece. All had a limited number of G. 91 evaluations (4, 3, and 4), but none were ordered for mass production and delivery.

Austria, Norway and Switzerland consider buying G. 91.

Fiat Aeritalia G. 91 (Gina) Specification

Basic

Year:

1958

Staff:

1

Production

[770 units]:

Fiat Aviazone / Aeritalia - Italy

Roles

Dimensions

Length:

10.3m

Width:

28.08 ft (8.56 m)

Height:

13. 12 feet (4 m)

Weight

Curb Weight:

3,100 kg

MTOW:

5,500 kg

(difference: +5,291 pt)

Performance

1 x Fiat/Bristol Orpheus 803 turbojet with 5,000 lbs of thrust.

Performance

Maximum Speed:

668 mph (1,075 km/h; 580 knots)

Service Limit:

42,979 ft (13,100 m; 8.14 mi)

Maximum range:

391 miles (630 km; 340 nmi)

Rate of climb:

5,990 ft/min (1,826 m/min)

Armor

Changes

G. 91 - Designation of prototype and pre-production models.