The IMAM Ro.43 was an Italian reconnaissance single float

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

, serving in the

Regia Marina The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' changed its name to ''Marina Militare'' ("M ...

between 1935 and 1943.

Design and development

The Ro.43 was designed to meet a 1933 requirement by the ''Regia Marina'' (the Italian navy) for a catapult-launched reconnaissance aircraft to equip the Maritime Reconnaissance Squadrons operating from its ships. The specification called for a speed of 240 km/h (149 mph), with a range of 600 km (370 mi) or an endurance of 5.5 hours. Other contenders were the Piaggio P.18 and P.20, CMASA MF.10, CANT Z.504 and Macchi C.76. Derived from the Ro.37 ''Lince'' reconnaissance aircraft,Angelucci 1981, p.323 by the same designer, the Ro.43 first flew in 1934. The plane was built of steel tubes and wood covered by soft

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductilit ...

and fabric. It was a two-seat biplane with folding

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century ...

upper and inverse gull lower wings, lightly armed and capable of around 300 km/h (185 mph) and over 1,000 km (620 mi) range. This performance more than met the requirements of the specification, and so it was declared the winner. Despite this, the Ro.43 had serious problems. Its lightweight structure meant that it was too delicate for

buoyancy Buoyancy (), or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed object. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus the ...

at sea, and it had poor sea-handling qualities. These problems meant that when it was launched it was quite normal not to recover it at sea, forcing the aircraft to return to land before alighting.

Operational history

The aircraft's good endurance meant that seaplanes could still be useful in the constrained

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

. Six Ro.43 launched from

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...

s played a role in spotting the British fleet during the

battle of Calabria The Battle of Calabria, known to the Italian Navy as the Battle of Punta Stilo, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. Ships of the Italian '' Regia Marina'' were opposed by vessels of the British R ...

, in the opening months of the war. One of them, departing from the cruiser ''Eugenio di Savoia'', kept visual contact with the battleship HMS ''Warspite'' during the exchange of fire between the British capital ship and the Italian battleship ''Giulio Cesare'' before being chased off by a Sea Gladiator from the carrier HMS ''Eagle''. Near the end of 1940, a lone Ro.43 launched by the heavy cruiser ''Bolzano'' was the first to spot the British fleet at the beginning of the

battle of Cape Spartivento The Battle of Cape Spartivento, known as the Battle of Cape Teulada in Italy, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War, fought between naval forces of the Royal Navy and the Italian ''Regia Marina'' on 27 ...

, at 9:45 while the seaplane of ''Gorizia'' located the British convoy at 11:45. British

Skuas The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the long-tailed skua, the Arctic skua, and the pomarine skua are called jae ...

from the carrier HMS ''Ark Royal'' claimed to have shot down one seaplane after a fruitless bombing on the Italian fleet, purportedly an Ro.43 from the battleship ''Vittorio Veneto''. The performance of the Ro.43s in this battle was eulogized by the Italian supreme command. Another Ro.43 launched by ''Vittorio Veneto'' pinpointed the British cruiser squadron at 6:35 during the engagement near

Gavdos Gavdos ( el, Γαύδος, ) is the southernmost Greek island, located to the south of its much larger neighbour, Crete, of which it is administratively a part, in the regional unit of Chania. It forms a community with surrounding islets and was ...

island, the prelude of the

Battle of Cape Matapan The Battle of Cape Matapan ( el, Ναυμαχία του Ταινάρου) was a naval battle during the Second World War between the Allies, represented by the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy, from 27 t ...

, on 28 March 1941. A cruiser-borne Ro.43 signaled the presence of the British convoy by dropping flares during the

Second Battle of Sirte The Second Battle of Sirte (on 22 March 1942) was a naval engagement in the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Gulf of Sidra and southeast of Malta, during the Second World War. The escorting warships of a British convoy to Malta held off a much ...

, while another seaplane from the battleship ''Littorio'' directed the fire of the Italian fleet onto the British squadron before disengaging at 17:24. The Ro.43s continued to take part in shipborne operations as late as June 1942, during the Italian cruiser attack on the Harpoon convoy. One of the Italian seaplanes was shot down by a Bristol Beaufighter from

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in the course of this action.Shores, Cull and Malizia, p. 337 One hundred and five aircraft were in service at the start of World War II, more than enough to equip the major surface units of the Italian Navy, but soon a better aircraft was requested, possibly a navalized fighter. This resulted in a small series being built of a naval version of the Reggiane Re.2000 that could be catapulted but was not fitted with floats so had to either return to a land base or ditch, in a similar fashion to the

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...

s operated by British CAM ships. The best feature were the folding wings, but even so the maximum carried on board was usually two. This, together with the modest possibilities of recovery and the lack of experience with naval aviation (even though the Italian Navy possessed a

seaplane carrier A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...

, the '' Giuseppe Miraglia'') limited the use of the aircraft in combat. Approximately 200-240 were produced until 1941, with 48 still in service in 1943.

Operators

; *''

'' * Regia Aeronautica

Specifications (Ro.43)

References

External links

Imam Ro 43

''La scheda sul Ro.43 dell'Aeronautica Italiana''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imam Ro.43 Ro.43 1930s Italian military reconnaissance aircraft Floatplanes Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1934