The FIAT G. 59 was one of the last high-performance aircraft equipped with a piston engine and it can be also considered as a symbol of the post-war re-birth of the Italian aeronautical industry. It was designed by famous Italian aeronautical engineers Giuseppe Gabrielli, starting from the FIAT G. 55 Centauro, considered one of the best Italian fighter aircraft of the Second World War. The G. 59 was produced by FIAT in the early 1950s, in more than 180 copies mainly used in the Italian Air Force as advanced trainer aircraft. Thanks to its engine, a 1660 hp V-12-cylinder Rolls Royce Merlin (version 500-20), the aircraft could reach a top speed of 609 km/h at an altitude of 6400 m above the sea level, and a ceiling of 12100 m. The Museum’s FIAT G. 59 4B is a two-seater model which was in service at the Second Air Region (based in Rome) of the Italian Air Force, up to 1964. Then it was purchased for didactic purpose by the former Institute of Aeronautics of the University of Palermo and in 2013 it undergone a thorough restoration in the Museum’s workshop. It is one of the only five complete copies surviving today, and it is displayed in a dedicated area of the Museum.
Maily used as training aircraft at the Aeronautica Militare Italiana (Italian Air Force).
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