The Officine Meccaniche Reggiane S.p.A, based in Reggio Emilia, was founded in 1904 by the Caproni company. They started aircraft production in 1937, working on the Piaggio P.32bis with ing. Giovanni Pegna. In the same year, ing. Roberto Longhi and ing. Antonio Alessio joined Reggiane to start work on the RE.2000. Clearly based on the Seversky P-35 they had both worked on, it was the first in a series of notable fighter aircraft that culminated with the RE.2005, considered the finest fighter aircraft of WWII. The company exists to this day as Reggiane Cranes and Plants S.p.A.

Reggaine RE.2000 Falco. Despite being a fine aircraft design, relatively few entered service with the Regia Aeronautica as the air ministry did not trust its 'wet-wing' fuel tank system. The majority of the 186 airframes built were exported to Sweden and Hungary. Hungary also built a considerable number of MAVAG RE.2000 'Heja's' under license. The Regia Marina also had a few RE.2000's on their warships but saw little action. All operators found it to be a high maintenance machine. For a while the only kits were the rather crude 1/50 Artiplast/SMER & 1/72 Supermodel kits. Special Hobby's produced a range of quite nicely detailed 1/72 kits but are now in short supply. Swords range of 1/72 kits are a decent alternative. The best option in 1/48 scale is Special Hobby's updated release of the Classic Airframe kit, which has new fuselage & improved detail parts. There is a very useful Aviolibri guide (IBN Editore No.6) on how to get the most out of this kit. Silver Wings produced a pair of 1/32 resin kits covering the two main types. It is nicely detailed but checking the parts against various plans indicates dimensional and shape errors to the cowling and wing.

Reggiane RE.2001 Falco II. This aircraft was powered by a license built DB.601 engine so an all new fuselage was designed to work it. The wing was further revised to have self-sealing tanks. With only a limited engine supply this meant only 252 were built and were delivered a year behind schedule. It proved to be a very capable machine. Kits of this aircraft are rare though. Only Swords 1/72 & 1/48 kits, which includes a Caccia Notturna version, are current. All other kits are OOP. This includes the Alitaliane range (all based around Supermodels vintage 1/72 kit), the 1/48 E.P. Originals resin kit & Classic Airframes 1/48 multi-media kit. Italian WIngs Delta engined 1/48 resin kit has been OOP for some time as well.

Reggiane RE.2002 Ariete. Due to limited engine supply for the RE.2001, the decision was taken to revisit the RE.2000. With a strengthened RE.2000 fuselage fitted to a modified RE.2001 wing, it had an uprated Piaggio radial engine. Its first flight was in 1940 and 225 were built. The Luftwaffe commandeered about 60 after the Armistice. Only Swords 1/72 kits are current. All others are OOP including the 1/72 Supermodel kit, the 1/48 E.P. Originals resin kit and Italeri's poor 1/48th scale kit, although this is due for re-issue. Both Quickboost & Vector Resin released multiple correction sets for this model. They can be used to convert a Special Hobby RE.2000 if you want to get a more accurate RE.2002 as this kit has the correct RE.2001 type wing.

Reggaine RE.2003. This was intended for the reconnaissance role. Two prototypes were built, the first was a modified RE.2000 fitted with a tandem cockpit and the second prototype was based on the RE.2002. AZ Models, RS Models and Special Hobby all released 1/72 kits based on existing RE.2000 tooling (AZ Models appear to have based theirs on the elderly Supermodel kit). None really captured the rather ungainly appearance of this aircraft with overscale rear cockpit dimensions.

Reggaine RE.2004. This prototype was to be powered by the air-cooled Isotta Fraschini RC24/60  24 cylinder X engine but the project was quickly abandoned when it became clear that the RE.2005 was a far better design. Was once available as an Italian Wings 1/72 resin kit.

Reggaine RE.2005 Sagittario. The fuselage of this aircraft was designed to be as streamlined and compact as possible and when combined with the DB.605 engine, it proved to be the fastest aircraft Italy had at the time, easily outperforming almost all rival aircraft. Due to its complexity and expense only 49 were built. Being such an appealing design has made the RE.2005 a very popular modelling subject over the years and numerous kits were produced. Most of the older kits are now discontinued, such as the 1/72 KPL, Pegasus, Pavla and Dujin kits and the 1/48 Falcon vacuform & injection moulded kit. The Flying Machines 1/48 may also be OOP. Since then, both Sword & Special Hobby have released good quality 1/48 kits. RS Models & Sword also have good quality 1/72 kits in their range. RS Models even released a 1/72 RE.2006. The excellent 1/32 Pacific Coast Models kit, now OOP, was moulded by Sword and could be the basis of their 1/48 kit.

Reggaine RE.2006. This was a highly secret prototype of a RE.2005 fitted with the powerful DB.603 engine. The fuselage was lengthened to maintain C of G and the undercarriage was also strengthened, which is the only surviving part of the airframe. It never got a chance to fly before being scrapped. Available only in 1/72 as an RS Models limited edition injection kit. I used a 1/48 Falcon kit as a basis for an RE.2006 conversion project. Click on the model image on the right to find out more.

Model images are links to a build article

RE.2001