Reggiane Re.2007

Reggiane

Industry	Aerospace
Founder	Roberto Longhi (designer)
Headquarters	Italy
Products	Aircraft

Template:Infobox aircraft

The Reggiane Re.2007 was an Italian fighter aircraft concept designed in 1943 by Roberto Longhi.

Design

Roberto Longhi, a leading designer at Reggiane, revealed in a May 1976 letter to the Italian aviation publication JP4 that Major Antonio Ferri of the Regia Aeronautica commissioned him to explore an engine configuration for the Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario. The concept involved incorporating an auxiliary Fiat A.20 engine positioned aft of the cockpit, which would power a compressor to enhance the output of the primary Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine. This arrangement aimed to enable the fighter to reach speeds of approximately 750 kilometres per hour (470 mph) at altitudes exceeding 8,000 metres (26,000 ft). Additionally, a tail exhaust was intended to provide extra thrust, effectively functioning as a Motorjet. This project was designated "Re.2005 R" by the Regia Aeronautica but remained only on paper due to anticipated issues with the aircraft’s Center of mass#center of gravity balance, according to Longhi.

Another propulsion alternative considered was acquiring turbojet engines from Nazi Germany. Despite efforts by Antonio Alessio and Count Giovanni Battista Caproni to secure these engines, Reggiane received only a wooden mock-up from Germany for dimensional verification.

Following World War II, Longhi attempted tests using two Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines left at the airport in Udine after Germany's defeat. These valuable engines had been brought to Italy in 1945 as spares for Luftwaffe high-speed reconnaissance missions involving three Arado Ar 234 Blitz aircraft during the Italian campaign. Unfortunately for Reggiane, these engines were acquired by Angelo Ambrosini, another Italian aircraft manufacturer.

Postwar, some drawings attributed to the Re.2007 were created by designer Pellizzola. These illustrations were speculative reconstructions based on descriptions from a Reggiane engineer and depicted an advanced jet fighter featuring futuristic (for 1943) swept wing designs—an aerodynamic feature that became widespread among fighters only in the 1950s, although earlier used on German aircraft like the Messerschmitt Me 262 and Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet#Me 163 Komet.

Claims that partially completed airframes and technical blueprints had been sent to both the United Kingdom and United States for evaluation appeared in some Italian publications; however, modern research regards these assertions as highly unlikely. Most contemporary experts view the Re.2007 as a largely mythical project assembled from fragmented memories and unrelated designs rather than an authentic aircraft plan.

Variants

• Re.2008, an envisioned advancement of the Re.2007 design, featuring a wing sweep angle of 33°.