DISCONTINUED Special Hobby 72089 Fiat CR.25 VIP Transp.vers.

Work on the new twin-engine multi-role combat aircraft for the Regia Aeronautica began in 1936, the new aircraft, marked with the CR-25 symbol, resembled a light transport machine, but the designers were supposed to serve as a light bomber, long range and long range escort fighter. The first prototype of the CR-25, bearing the military registration number MM.332, was flown on July 22, 1937 at the Turin factory airport by the FIAT Valentino Cus test pilot. The plane had a structure made of steel pipes, the front part of the fuselage was covered up to the trailing edge of the wings and the middle part of the wings up to the engine nacelles were made of duralumin sheets, and the remaining parts were canvas. Offensive armament was placed in the nose of the fuselage (initially it was to consist of four 7.7 mm machine guns, and eventually two 12.7 mm machine guns), and the defensive armament was in a rotating turret on the spine of the hull. Additionally, the plane was equipped with a bomb bay in the fuselage for up to 700 kg of bombs. Approx. Eight CR-25bis / CR-25 prototypes were delivered in July 1941 to 173a Squadriglia RST (Ricognizione Strategica Terrestre - land strategic reconnaissance), then based at the Boccadifalco airport near Palermo, Sicily. The planes performed reconnaissance flights over the entire Mediterranean, from Egypt to Gibraltar, both during the day and at night. Despite the relatively good effects of these actions, Regia Aeronautica was not satisfied with the CR-25bis and from October 1942 began to replace them in reconnaissance missions with machines of the Caproni Ca-314 type. Technical data: Maximum speed: 450 km / h, maximum ceiling 7,950 m, maximum range: 1,500 km, armament: fixed - 3 Breda-SAFAT 12.7 mm machine guns, suspended - up to 700 kg of bombs.