Overview Following the decision of the
Regia Aeronautica to reject the Re.2000 and cancel its pre-production order, Reggiane rapidly set about marketing the Re.2000 towards various interested countries, many of which had been incentivised towards such purchases as a consequence of the breaking out of the Second World War. During January 1940, the Director of Aircraft Contracts confirmed the British order. The German government issued its approval of the sale in March of the same year, but withdrew its approval during the following month.
Italy Only five
Serie Is served in the
Regia Aeronautica, including the prototype. They were organized into the
Sezione Sperimentale Reggiane inside the 74a
Squadriglia in
Sicily. Later it was renamed
377a Squadriglia Autonoma Caccia Terrestre, and received nine further Serie III Re.2000bis; 12 of the 26 Reggianes were later converted to GA standard. The few Re.2000 and 2000GA were used over Mediterranean Sea as escort and attack aircraft, sometimes with Macchi 200/202s and FIAT CR 25 two-engine fighters. 377a was based in Sicily, and fought in
Malta and
Pantelleria, mainly in an escort role and protecting Axis ships almost until Tunisia (with a range up to 300–350 km), well beyond the other RA single seat-fighters; sometimes it was used to attack Malta with bomblets (
spezzoni) and machine guns, typically at dawn. It reported a single 'kill' against a
Bristol Blenheim. Overall, their service was not remarkable: there was at least one sudden fatal
flat spin, while another Re.2000 had fatal engine damage (a piston was literally driven through the cylinder) and crash-landed, overturning, catching fire and almost killing its pilot (rescued by the ground crew). Although the Reggiane had a long range, it was disliked and even feared by ground crew and pilots, for its difficult maintenance and unpredictable engine reliability and handling. The last Re.2000 was sent back to the factory in September 1942. The final fate of Re.2000 in
Regia Aeronautica was to serve with 1°
Nucleo Addestramento Intercettori (N.A.I.), based at
Treviso, and serving for experimental purposes until the Armistice. The last two serviceable aircraft were demolished by the Germans, with another one destroyed after being captured at
Furbara. The
Regia Marina (Italian Navy), however, experimented with a
carrier version (
Serie II) which was successfully launched by
catapult. Lacking a carrier, Italy used a similar system to the British CAM ships equipped with Hurricanes. The first proposal was made in late December 1940, although the program officially began with an order issued in April 1943. The first modified
Re.2000 Cat. (taken from the Swedish orders) flew on 27 June 1941, the last on 18 January 1942 (MM.8282-8288), but crashed on 10 September. There was another navalized Re.2000, the MM.471. It flew initially with a lower powered A.74 RC.38 engine, but it was lost too, during the travel from
Reggio Emilia to
Taranto (12 May 1941). The first launch was performed on 9 May 1942 with test pilot Giulio Reiner. The Re.2000 Cat. was slower than a standard Re.2000; instead of , the maximum speed was only at km/h at 5,500 m, and at sea level compared with for the Re.2000. The climb to 6,000 m was 7,75 min (vs 6,5-7 min), apparently there was not much difference in ceiling 10,000–11,100 m and endurance, range was 450 km, endurance 1,000 km (at 460 km/h), up to km 1,290 (at m 6,000, full loaded, km/h 430). Weights were 2,120–2,870 or, probably with the complete kit, 2,200–2,970 kg; the engine was the P.XIbis, that had both at take-off and at 4,000 meters. So, the Hungarian Air Force (MKHL) obtained much of their aircraft from Italy instead. This would change in October 1942, from which point the Germans would give the Hungarians modern German aircraft and their licenses. Early in the war, the
MKHL was a significant purchaser of Italian aircraft and can be said to have been the main operator of the Re.2000 through their extensive use of
MÁVAG Héjas. Hungary bought 70 Reggiane Re.2000 Falco Is and then also acquired the license-production rights for this model. The Hungarians used their own modified Re.2000s known as MÁVAG Héja Is ("
Hawk Is"), and produced their own heavily modified fighters known as MÁVAG Héja IIs ("
Hawk IIs") which were based on the Re.2000. A total of 204 MÁVAG Héja IIs were built. According to other sources, between 170 and 203 aircraft were constructed. The MÁVAG Héja I was used in combat on the
Eastern Front. MÁVAG Héja IIs were not used on the Eastern Front; instead, Héja IIs operated inside Hungary in an
air defense role, intercepting
bombers or as
advanced trainers. These issues led to one aircraft being lost but were eventually corrected. Also, the wing
fuel tanks of the Re.2000s received by Hungary were poorly sealed, with many of them leaking. When these Re.2000s were modified into Héja Is, the wing fuel tanks were left unchanged, so this issue remained, and many flew with constantly leaking fuel tanks. The MÁVAG Héja I had a Hungarian engine, a different propeller, armor for the pilot, an additional 100 L fuel tank (in the fuselage,
self-sealing), a radio, a lengthened fuselage, and other changes differentiating it from the Re.2000. The MÁVAG Héja II retained some of the changes from the Héja I but also had much better Hungarian machine guns installed (12.7 mm
Gebauer 1940.M GKMs), replacing the original Italian ones, and the larger (often leaking)
fuel tanks in the wings were replaced with 22 smaller 20-25 L ones. Surprisingly, the fuel tank changes noticeably improved the fighter's stability by reducing
fuel sloshing in the tank. It also had a newer, more powerful (1085 hp) Hungarian engine – the WM K-14B, a redesigned
cowling, a larger Hungarian-made
Weiss Manfréd propeller, and more changes further differentiating it from the Re.2000. The Re.2000s received from Italy were modified into MÁVAG Héja Is in Hungary. Then they were sent to
Debrecen to strengthen home defenses, as there was a danger that the growing crisis over
Transylvania could lead to a conflict with Romania. However, conflict was avoided, and the Héja Is were used on the
Eastern Front in the war against the
Soviet Union. Flying alongside the
Fiat CR.32s of 1/3 Fighter Company, the Héja I pilots claimed eight kills for one loss during three months of combat against the
Soviet Air Force. reached its first front base near
Kursk on 2 July. By 3 August, 2/1 FS joined the other Hungarian fighter unit that had moved to
Ilovskoye airfield. The task of 2/1 was to escort short-range
reconnaissance aircraft, while 1/1 would support bombing missions. Combat performance against the
Soviet Air Force was satisfactory. On 4 August, the Hungarians claimed their first kills, when Ens Vajda shot down two enemy aircraft. in his MÁVAG Héja I The Hungarian Héja Is had their most successful day on 9 August 1942. That day, near the village of Davidovka, 16
Ilyushin Il-2s and a similar number of
LaGG-3s were intercepted by four Héja Is. The Hungarians downed four LaGGs, suffering the loss of the Héja I of Lt Takács, who crash-landed behind his own lines, wounded. August 1942, on his 25th operational sortie. István was very popular in Hungary, was
pro-Western, was opposed to the
Holocaust and often publicly criticized
Nazism, despite
Hungary being a part of the
Axis. Shortly after takeoff, a pilot flying above asked István Horthy to increase his altitude, he pulled up too suddenly, stalled and crashed. According to other sources, his aircraft entered a
flat spin after he made a turn at low speed to fly in close formation with a
He 46 reconnaissance aircraft. Some were convinced that the Germans had
sabotaged his aircraft. Nevertheless, the determined Hungarian pilots kept on flying combat missions with the Héja I and scoring a number of kills against
Soviet aircraft. When they managed to force their Soviet opponents into a
dogfight, thanks to the great maneuverability of the Héja, the Hungarian pilots were often successful. The surviving
Héjas were kept in Hungary for home defense. Production of Héja IIs in Hungary continued until August 1944: 98 were completed in 1943 and 72 in 1944, although the aircraft was regarded as no longer suitable for combat against the latest Soviet fighters. Hungary requested that an additional 50–100 Re.2000 airframes be manufactured in Italy, as suitable engines and armament could be locally manufactured; additionally, other countries expressed interest, including Finland (100 examples), Portugal (50), Spain, Switzerland and Yugoslavia. However, no airframes were available by then. in Hungary, 13 April 1944By April 1944, the MKHL still deployed four Héja IIs in 1/1 Fighter squadron and four Héja IIs in 1/2, all of them based in
Szolnok for home defense duties, along with about 40
Bf 109s and
Messerschmitt Me 210s. On 2 April 1944, 180 bombers from the
USAAF 15th Air Force, escorted by 170 fighters, bombed the Danube Aircraft Works and other targets in
Budapest. The Hungarian Fighter Control Center in the
Gellért hill, near Budapest, scrambled one wing of Héjas from 1/1 Fighter squadron, along with 12
Bf 109 G-4/G-6s and a couple of
Messerschmitt Me 210 Ca-1s from the Experimental Air Force Institute (Repülő Kísérleti Intézet, RKI). The Hungarians reported 11 aerial victories, of which six were confirmed, while USAAF pilots claimed 27 MKHL aircraft shot down. However, later records showed only two Honvéd (MKHL) pilots were killed. On 13 April 1944, Budapest was attacked by 15th Air Force bombers, accompanied by
P-38s from the
1st Fighter Group, led by Lieutenant Alford. Pilots of the P-38s reported the downing of two
Re.2001s to the west of
Lake Balaton, which were actually MÁVAG Héja IIs. The Americans only damaged one of them. As the situation for the
Axis worsened, American and British
bombing raids on Hungarian factories and infrastructure became common and many unfinished Héja IIs were destroyed, having never left the factory. Material shortages also hit Hungary hard, causing many complete Héja IIs to be grounded. A lack of spare parts also meant that many Héja IIs would just have to idly wait for these instead of being used in combat. During the last months of 1944, the 101/6 Training Squadron of the famous
101st Home Air Defence Fighter Wing "Pumas" had six flying Héja IIs. The last official report mentioning Héja IIs was dated 22 February 1945. It concerned a Héja II that crashed during a training flight. They were mainly used to intercept
Axis and
Allied bombers that violated Swedish airspace. One J 20 was lost in combat, shot down while intercepting a
Luftwaffe Dornier Do 24 near
Sölvesborg on 3 April 1945. The pilots appreciated the type, which performed well under harsh conditions and was the fastest aircraft then in operation with the service. However, the Re.2000's mechanical reliability was unable to meet Swedish Air Force requirements; reportedly, the aircraft normally had to spend a great deal of time in maintenance. At the end of the conflict, the 37 J 20s that remained in service were so badly worn out that they were decommissioned during July 1945 and were subsequently scrapped, while only one of these was retained for display purposes. ==Variants==