Italy's struggle to go modern

摘要

Fighter performance depends largely on two things - engine power and aerodynamic design. A clean efficient airframe matched with a powerful engine will provide a fighter of excellent performance. Willy Messer-schmitt's Bf 109 and Reginald Mitchell's Supermarine Spitfire are probably the best examples of this - mating the smallest possible airframe to the most powerful engine available. The Italians were able to design good - and in some cases, excellent - airframes, but lacked the capacity to build engines of sufficient power to take advantage of them.