Aeritalia G.91

Aeritalia G.91R

Description
Role	Fighter
Crew	One, pilot
First Flight	August 1 1956
Manufacturers	Aeritalia, Flugzeug-Union Sud
Dimensions
Length	10.30 m	33 ft 9 in
Wingspan	8.56 m	28 ft 1 in
Height	4.00 m	3 ft 1 in
Wing area	16.42 m²	177 ft²
Weights
Empty	3,100 kg	6,820 lb
Loaded	5,440 kg	11,968 lb
Maximum takeoff	5,500 kg	12,100 lb
Powerplant
Engines	1x Bristol Siddeley Orpheus 803
Thrust	22.2 kN	4,989 lb
Performance
Maximum speed	1,075 km/h	668 mph
Combat Radius	320 km	199 miles
Ferry Range	1,150 km	717 miles
Service ceiling	13,100m	42,968 ft
Rate of climb	1,876 m/min	6,003 ft/min
Wing loading	331 kg/m²	68 lb/ft²
Thrust/Weight	4 N/kg	0.42 lbf/lb
Avionics
Avionics
Armament
Guns	4x 12.7 mm Browning machine guns
Stores	500 kg (1,100 lb) of bombs, rockets, or gunpods on four underwing pylons

The Aeritalia G.91, also known as the Fiat G.91 and nicknamed Gina was an Italian fighter aircraft that was intended to serve as standard equipment for NATO air forces in the 1960s. It was eventually only adopted by three - the Italian Air Force, West Germany's Luftwaffe, and the Portuguese Air Force but enjoyed a long service life that extended over thirty-five years.

In 1953, European aircraft manufacturers were invited by NATO to submit aircraft for evaluation for the "LWSF" (Light Weight Strike Fighter) role. The competing designs were evaluated in 1957 and besides the G.91, included the Northrop N156, Dassault Etendard IV, Sud-Est Baroudeur, Aerfer Ariete and Bregeut Taon. Despite the G.91's impressive performance in trials, the French government preferred to pursue development of the locally-designed Etendard, and the British government ignored the competition to concentrate on Hawker Hunter production for the same role. In fairness, it should also be pointed out that the Italian government also ordered the G.91 for the Italian Air Force before the results of the competition were known. (These pre-production machines would later go on to serve for many years with the Italian aerobatic team, the Frecce Tricolori).

Aeritalia built 174 G.91s for Italy, plus 144 for Germany (including 50 that had been ordered and then cancelled by Greece and Turkey). Another 294 were built in Germany by Flugzeug-Union Sud (a consortium of former competitors Messerschmitt, Heinkel, and Dornier). The type was also considered by Austria, Norway, Switzerland, and even the United States Army, which briefly evaluated the type as a possible Forward Air Control (FAC) aircraft before relinquishing all fixed-wing aircraft operations to the USAF.

From 1961, Portugal began to purchase the G.91 to deploy to her former African colonies of Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and Angola in the close-support role. The first 40 were purchased second-hand from the Luftwaffe out of the aircraft that had originally been produced for Greece and which differed from the rest of the Luftwaffe G.91s sufficiently to create maintenance problems. The aircraft replaced the F-86 Sabres, which were withdrawn following US protests over the use of these aircraft that had originally been supplied for defensive purposes. Portuguese G.91s continued in this role until the withdrawal from Africa in 1975.

Trainer and reconnaissance variants were produced right from the start of G.91 production, but the basic design of the aircraft remained virtually unchanged throughout almost the entire production run of the aircraft. An additional 67 aircraft built by Aeritalia were, however, significantly uprated from earlier versions. These aircraft, designated G.91Y replaced the original Britol Siddeley Orpheus engine with two General Electric J85 units. The G.91Y first flew in 1966 and displayed a vast improvement in speed, range, payload, and maneuverability.

Portugal finally phased out the last of her G.91s in 1993, and Italy in 1995. There are numerous examples preserved in museums around the world.

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