C.R. 42 “Falco”

A better view perhaps

Originally shared by Pete Panozzo

The Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon has a Regia Aeronautica machine on display. This was captured on 11 November 1940 when it suffered an overheated engine and was forced to land on the shingle beach at Orfordness, Suffolk. During the summer of 1941, it was flown by the Air Fighting Development Unit in mock combat against a variety of British fighters. At the end of 1943 all testing was complete and the aircraft was marked for preservation in a future museum as a result of an earlier request of the Air Historical Branch. It was subsequently stored at several RAF facilities until 1978, when it was moved to its present home, the RAF Museum.[87]