The Ba.65 was a development of the earlier Ba.64, which proved to be less than satisfactory. The Ba.65 was intended to serve as a muilti-role fighter, but early Ba.65's used in the Spanish Civil War showed that the plane was lacking as a fighter, although it had some value as a ground attack aircraft.
A more powerful engine was fitted and the Ba.65 entered Italian service by the start of WWII. Several planes were exported to Iraq (25) and Chile (20). In Italian usage, the A.80 engine proved troublesome in the desert and was replaced by the original K-14 engines. By February 1941, no Ba.65's were left in Italian service. Later in the year, the Iraqi's used their planes (23 with the Breda L turrets and 2 trainers) against the British; it was the last usage of the Ba.65 in combat. Most of the 218 Ba.65's built were single-seaters. The single-seat, two-seat and trainer versions all had the same designation of Ba.65 (A.80 and K-14 refer to the engine fitted).
The Ba.65 burns 34 gallons of fuel per hour at routine usage.
Subassemblies: Medium Fighter chassis +3, Heavy Fighter Wings
+3, three retractable wheels +0.
Powertrain: 746-kW aerial HP gas engine with 746-kW prop and
66-gallon self-sealing tanks [Body and Wings]
Occupancy: 1 CS. Cargo: 9.1 Body, 1 Wings
| Armor | F | R/L | B | T | U |
| All | 2/3 | 2/3 | 2/3 | 2/3 | 2/3 |
| Cockpit | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/+30 | 0/0 | 0/+30 |
Weaponry
2¥Long Aircraft HMG/12.7mm Breda SAFAT [Wing:F] (400 rounds each)*
2¥Aircraft LMG/7.7mm Breda SAFAT [Body:F] (1000 rounds each)*
Equipment
Body: Medium radio transmitter and receiver, navigation instruments,
bomb bay (660 lbs). Wings: Four 220-lb hardpoint each
Statistics
| Size: 31'x40'x11' | Payload: 0.865 tons | Lwt: 3.31 tons |
| Volume: 200 | Maint.:45 hours | Price: $19,500 |
HT: 8
HP: 120 [body], 180 [each wing], 12 [each wheel]
| aSpeed: 267 | aAccel: 6 | aDecel: 37 | aMR: 9.25 | aSR: 2 |
Design Notes
Design aSpeed is 285 mph; the historical speed, as well as actual wing
area (253 sf), has been used.
The bomb bay was bought with 750-lb capacity but the historical load was used.
Variants
Some Ba.65's had an open observer/gunner position just above the trailing
wing root and carried an extra 7.7 MG on a flexible mount. Somewhat rarer
was a Breda L turret in this position, armed with eiter a 7.7 or 12.7mm
MG.
The Ba.65 K-14 used a 522-kW engine, with a top speed of 258 mph. The trainer had a top speed of 255 mph.