The Macchi M.C.202 Folgore was one of the best fighter planes made in the early stages of WW2 and certainly the best Italian fighter to have been produced in quantity.  But despite its high reputation in Italy, it never became as famous as other nation's fighter aircraft even when the Folgore (Lightning in Italian) entered battle in North Africa in the summer of 1941 against the British.  It was substantially superior to the Curtiss P-40 and Hawker Hurricanes it encountered, and by war's end it could still outperform all but the late-model Spitfires and Mustangs.  After the Italian Armistice in September, 1943, a number of Folgores were flown against the Germans by the small Italian Co-belligerent Air Force.