This is the Fiat G.91. I really like this aircraft,
not just because I’ve been inside one… “This is legitimately the best cockpit
I have ever sat in [ITC Fiat G.91]” What Fiat did with this plane made it
the most notable and forgotten attempt to standardize NATO around one aircraft. Yes,
just one single aircraft – but it failed. Let’s talk about that and in the background
we will have some visual representations of the G91 from War Thunder, today’s sponsor.
To get us started, fast rewind…
into the 1950s. NATO came up with NBMR-1: NATO BASIC MILITARY REQUIREMENT 1 to have one aircraft
be the standard light wight tactical strike fighter (LWTSF) that all the main countries,
France, Britain, West-Germany, Italy, potentially even the US standardize
on. Why? Well, if everyone flies the same you’ve got economies of scale in production,
you’ve got interoperability, benefits for maintenance and logistics and so on.
With the competition starting in 1953/54 - France entered with the Breguet Taon,
Britain with the Folland Gnat, and Italy with the Fiat G.91 . Fiat truly embraced
the concept that NATO proposed – a simple, cheap, no nonsense machine,
able to be flown from the most rudimentary airstrips with maintenance crews of minimal
training . You are basically looking at the Saab Gripen of the 1950s.
Already servicing and producing most F-86 Sabres in service in NATO air forces in Europe,
the G.91s similarity makes sense – it is what one publication phrased as a non-identical aerodynamic
twin of the Sabre . Yes, Fiat built something like a Sabre – it was a proven concept in need of
some upgrades. Instead of going proprietary, Fiat went shopping to standardize around on-the-shelf
equipment. A French landing gear, US style rivets, bolt threads and skin gages, a British engine,
the NATO fighter was coming together. Fiat even adopted North American Aviation style sign-off
sheets for inspectors, moved away from the traditional Italian hand-made artisanal crafting
to milled and pressed parts that can be pumped out in high numbers, and cooperated with NACA on
improving the performance . The Fiat G.91 was a serious attempt to standardize for
NATO. A sortie of a Fiat G91 was conceptualized around a
very basic framework of high sortie output – let’s show that off with some War thunder footage.
Operating from dispersed field strips, even grass strips, it would take off with
a small but significant enough bombload. It would cruise to the target at low altitude,
go to full speed, locate whatever needed to disappear, drop the ordinance in one pass,
and high tail it back to the field. It was never supposed to loiter for more
than a few minutes over enemy held territory. There, with easy access to the plane’s panels,
a superficial inspection, perhaps some light repairs, and a quick refuelling and rearming
process, the plane was ready again. The Fiat G.91 is the jet equivalent of
what the WW2 German Luftwaffe would have called a Schlachtflieger, a close-air support aircraft
operating with rolling sorties in high intensity engagements. The concept, albeit as a jet,
is the same. It’s a simple, reasonably fast, reasonably manoeuvrable aircraft operating from
austere runways close to the frontline – It’s not an Italian stallion, it’s a workhorse.
In 1958 Fiat won the competition against four concepts presented by France.
A compromise was worked out – Fiat gets the victory with the Fiat G.91, France gets the
second-generation NATO standardized strike fighter with either Etendard 6 or Taon.
Everyone agreed that the G.91 was an excellent aircraft for its type and that within the spirit
of the competition, it was a solid choice with a projected price tag of $2.5 million
per aircraft adjusted for inflation. The Fiat G.91 was a cheap option – even cheaper than
the Sabre . Mind you, I don’t know if that is the pure fly-away cost or based on what
order volume it is calculated from – so take that figure with a grain of salt. As always,
quoted aircraft costs are notoriously unreliable as I talked about in my F-35 video [video].
--- Then
the problem started – no one wants the aircraft. The initial French-West-German-Italian negotiation
over 150 aircraft was there but everyone was hesitant about this aircraft – the likely
reasons for which I will go into in just a second. Anyway 150 aircraft for a standardized short-range
strike fighter with a reasonably high attrition rate should the cold war go hot – it’s just not
a fleet to speak. There was a reasonable chance for follow-up orders once the plane
was introduced but at the same time, the clock was ticking - more on that in just a second.
Interest by nations such as Austria, Greece, Switzerland, the United States and Turkey did
not yield any contracts or fulfilled contracts. Even France pulls out – potentially as it feared
that their 2nd generation deal was threatened by competition. A fear that was well founded
mind-you as both Britain and West Germany started to push for VTOL concepts in strike fighters.
West Germany jumps in with a sizable order of 200 machines with 150 build under license. In the end,
only West Germany and Italy adopt the plane as original users and the eventual production run of
700+ machines wasn’t half bad. Portugal also goes on to adopt the license productions from Germany,
using them in their colonial wars. But a standard NATO strike fighter, it was not.
Why did no one want the Fiat G.91. There are multiple reasons that help explain this.
The premise of adding Fiat G.91 to the inventory was largely based around each country agreeing
to accept the winner of the competition – even if it wasn’t their own. With the United Kingdom
losing interest in the competition, French support was based around the understanding
that second generation standardization would be around a French design. When this became unlikely,
the French pulled their support. This shows the role that political and economic requirements
play within defense procurement as even West Germany relied on their own license production
as a prerequisite to the adoption of the plane. While NATO standardization appears reasonable on
paper, the question remains whether the Fiat G.91 fitted the military framework of each
member country. For West Germany and Italy, as the front line should Warsaw Pact countries launch an
attack, the idea of simple, low cost, high sortie counts light strike fighter operating in field
conditions made sense. Perhaps WW2 experience on the eastern front added to this decision.
For other large members like France and the United Kingdom, even though they
had local deployments in West Germany, the G91 specifications were less suited to their needs.
Ultimately, the military value or rather the appeal of the G91 can also be questioned around
two axes. While they had yet to proliferate, the 1960s saw the introduction of more potent
ground defenses. At the same time, the basic design of the G91 was based on a
jet generation that started to be replaced. As a basic comparison, it won the contract in 1958,
the same year the F-104 Starfighter had it’s first flight. It was a Korean War type plane
in a jet world that went supersonic. That doesn’t necessarily reduce its battlefield
value but certainly made it a tougher sale. But you know, you can be the judge of that because
the Fiat G.91 is one of thousands of vehicles that await you in War Thunder. If you want to have a
true extravaganza of aircraft from World War 2 all the way to modern jets, War Thunder is what you
need – and that includes the Fiat G.91 in multiple variants – it’s a cheerful little machine,
especially when you mess up your MCLOS missile but then clutch it right into your target – on your
right buddy, on your right, still on your right, your right…oh dear…In War Thunder you can even
take to the skies in voodoo machines or in tanks and ships, though really we air power aficionados
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It fits that in the end only Italy and West Germany took on the Fiat G.91 within NATO – and
thus kept the NATO strike fighter alive. The plane was similar enough to their existing Sabre fleet,
resembled the capabilities and the experience made with planes used on the WW2 Eastern Front, had a
philosophy centered around austere airfield and maintenance conditions that a frontline country
like West Germany and Italy might face compared to the UK and France. And with Portugal using it,
the plane also proved it could do what it was designed to do. But once again,
the Fiat G.91 was one of those planes, that wouldn’t have just been a political concession to
many countries but it came out just at the point when a generational shift occurred in aviation.
And as we know from the past, those planes often end up being the ones that draw the short straw.