FIAT G-91 for US ARMY

[VintageAviationNews]

Hi Guys,

My first post here.

Can anyone help me to find out more about this G-91?

I am wondering if it's still around somewhere or it was scrapped?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CPnLU_SYUGM/T ... 1R-1+1.jpg

On another forum a person mentioned a scanned picture of a G.91T-1 MM.6289/NC.2, coded US ARMY 0002.

Any information is much appreciated!

Moreno

[mike furline]

Found this on another forum,

"According to Steve Harding's book: US Army Aircraft since 1947, the two Fiat G.91s that were borrowed from the Luftwaffe were as follows:

One was an Italian built G.91R-1, c/n 0052 that served with the Luftwaffe (BD+102)The other was a German built G.91R-3 (c/n 0065) Luftwaffe EC+105. From the b/w pics in the book, it looks like both a/c were in Luftwaffe camo, but there appears to be an orange or red tail as well as an orange/red section around the lower nose area. The numbers on the tail were the c/n's (0065 and 0052)."

[PropsRule]

I had read about this briefly once. Thank you for bring it up. I'm interested to see what kinds of responses you get. If I understand correctly, the G.91 was meant to be a sort of NATO standard lightweight fighter, so it isn't that far fetched that the U.S. Army was considering them.

As an aside, one of my favourite aviation memories involved watching two Portuguese G.91s having a friendly dogfight with two newly acquired (back then, anyway) Portuguese Alpha Jets. We had just pulled off some highway in the middle of nowhere in Portugal for a rest, when the four jets showed up and proceeded to entertain us with a nice little furball right over our heads. Good times.

[VintageAviationNews]

Thanks guys.

It would be great to know if those two G-91's are still here in the US somewhere.

--
Moreno Aguiari
Managing Editor
info@WarbirdsNews.com

[gary1954]

A Thousand Greetings ,
A good friend of mine, aka Dik Shepherd , told me that the G-91s were scrapped at Fort Rucker back in the 70s . He said that he found the remains in the woods outside the base on private property back when we lived in Alabama .
If I recall correctly, this would have been probably mid to late 1970s when he lived there. He was living there before I arrived in the summer of 1977 when I was going to ATC schooling . Just my two cents .

[Rick65]

According to US Army Aircraft Since 1947 by Stephen Harding the G.91R-1 was lost in a fatal crash and the surviving G.91R-3 was returned to the Luftwaffe in 1962.
The planes apparently had yellow test marking over standard Luftwaffe camouflage.
I like this book because it was really cheap on a throw out bin, has lots of information on unusual and experimental VTOL and helicopters but I don't know how accurate it is.

[The Inspector]

Great reference for 'off the wall' stuff. Had my copy for over 20 years. The biggest speed bump in the program was the Blue Suiter guys getting all puffy because 'them Armee guyz might get real jet airyplains, and that would step on our private lawn.' Didja know the Army had 2 A4D Skyhawks for a while?

I'll bet AMAZON could dig up a copy. it's worth the investment, U.S. Army Aircraft since 1947 by Stephen Harding, ISBN 0-933424-53-1

[p51]

Never knew about the skyhawks. What'd they use those for?
I know at one time, there was talk of handing over A-10s to the Army for CAS aviation units organic to maneuver elements.

[sandiego89]

Never knew about the skyhawks. What'd they use those for?
I know at one time, there was talk of handing over A-10s to the Army for CAS aviation units organic to maneuver elements.

P51, a pair of A-4 Skyhawks were used for US Army Evaluation, but never used in service. From this site: http://a4skyhawk.org/2c/productionhistory.htm

"In 1961, two A4D-2 Skyhawks (BuNos 148490 and 148483) were borrowed by the U.S. Army and modified by Douglas for evaluation in competition with the Northrop N-156 (predecessor of the F-5) and an Italian Fiat G-91, for operations from unimproved airfields near front lines. Modifications of the Army Skyhawk included large dual wheels on beefed-up main landing gear mounts; a heavier wing to house the larger landing gear; and installation of an A-3 Skywarrior drag chute. Flown by Douglas test pilot Dru Wood, the modified "Army" Skyhawk won the competition, but the project was canceled when Army funds were diverted to helicopter procurement."

A picture here with the beefy main gear, I say it looks quite good in that set up.
http://a4skyhawk.org/sites/a4skyhawk.or ... 148483.jpg

Seems the US Air Force has been quite vocal and successful over the years from letting the Army have any fixed wing direct combat types. As I understand it the USAF only took the A-10 with reluctance- they were more interested in the fast movers, but had to give the Army some support.

[Tailspin Turtle]

[PropsRule]

I'm imagining landing gear mounts that are a beefed up version of those originally fitted to a carrier plane. That must have been one tough airplane.

The G.91 and A-4 look to have been photographed in front of the same hangar (not surprisingly since they were involved in the same project).