majority of these offered aircraft that would have exceeded the speed requirements, but not the sought range; additionally, not all designs exhibited satisfactory flight characteristics or reliability levels. Fiat's design team, headed by aeronautical engineer Celestino Rosatelli, set about designing a bomber that would be capable of relatively high speeds while using a simple and rugged construction and maintaining a low overall weight. According to aviation author G. Apostolo, the design "represented a departure from the line of aircraft previous designed by Ing. Celestino Rosatelli" and that it made use of elements of Fiat's earlier prototype civil airliner, the APR.2. Upon its emergence, the design, which later designated as the BR.20, was modern and competitive with other Italian bomber aircraft. The BR.20 Cicogna was amongst those proposals to be accepted by the Regia Aeronautica, together with the trimotor Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 and Cant Z.1007, thus gaining the prefix BR, (for "Bombardiere Rosatelli"). Into flight The BR.20 moved swiftly through its design and development phases, the design itself being finalized during 1935. On 10 February 1936, the first prototype (serial number M.M.274) performed its maiden flight from Turin, flown by Fiat test pilot Rolandi. Following the first flight, it was transferred to Guidonia Montecelio within the Metropolitan City of Rome for an accelerated evaluation programme. Production orders for the type were quickly placed and authorised by the Regia Aeronautica; during September 1936, initial deliveries of the BR.20 commenced to 13° Stormo Bombardamento Terrestre of the Regia Aeronautica. Testing of the aircraft continued even after this point; during June 1937, three aircraft were dispatched to a pair of bases in Benghazi and Tripoli, Libya, to conduct test flights under tropical conditions. The initial production bombers differed from the earlier prototype in various area, particular in the finer details of the nose, fuselage, and tail. Cicogna vs. Sparviero Despite the BR.20 being the winner of the 1934 new bomber competition, the Savoia Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero, a non-competitor which was developed at practically the same time, gained a reputation that overshadowed the BR.20 Cicogna, partly because of its performance during several high-profile air races. The performance differences between the two aircraft were minimal: both were rated at about 430 km/h (270 mph), with maximum and typical payloads of 1,600 kg (3,630 lb) and 1,250 kg (2,760 lb) respectively for a range of 800–1,000 km (500–620 mi). Both bombers also possessed an assortment of three to