Anouther problem is their aircraft tended to be very lightly armed compared to German and British designs. From two to four .303 cal machine guns and perhaps a 20mm cannon. Some of the pilots were pretty good and had high kill numbers, espcially the ones who fought on with the axis after Italy surrendered in 1943.
Some of the later fighter designs were very good but they could not get them mass produced. The CR-42 was the back bone of the fighters in general.

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