World War II Regia Aeronautica

1 world war ii

1.1 battle of france
1.2 middle east
1.3 east africa
1.4 battle of britain
1.5 western desert
1.6 malta
1.7 gibraltar
1.8 greece , yugoslavia
1.9 eastern front
1.10 tunisian campaign
1.11 sicilian campaign , before 8 september 1943
1.12 post-armistice
1.13 regia aeronautica aces (world war ii)

world war ii

when world war ii began in 1939, italy had smallest air force among 3 major axis powers. paper strength of 3,296 machines, 2,000 fit operations, of 166 modern fighters. while numerically still force reckoned with, hampered local aircraft industry using obsolete production methods. macchi mc.200 , fiat g.50 modern fighters available still slower potential allied aircraft. technical assistance provided german ally did little improve situation. (1939–1945)

battle of france

on 10 june 1940, during closing days of battle of france, italy declared war on france , united kingdom. on 13 june, fiat cr.42s attacked french air bases , escorted fiat br.20s bombed harbour of toulone. 2 days later, cr.42s 3° stormo , 53° stormo attacked again french air force bases , clashed dewoitine d.520s , bloch mb.152s, claiming 8 kills 5 losses. regia aeronautica carried out 716 bombing missions in support of italian invasion of france regio esercito. italian aircraft dropped total of 276 tons of bombs. generale giuseppe santoro in book published after war criticized such unplanned use air force, had not been prepared operations against fortifications immune aerial bombing. 80 long tons (81 t) of bombs dropped on targets, little effect. during short war, regia aeronautica lost 10 aircraft in aerial combat , 24 aircrew personnel, while claiming 10 kills , 40 french planes destroyed on ground.

after war, there widespread rumour in france, between paris , bordeaux, of italian aircraft strafing civilian columns, many people claiming have seen tricolour roundels painted on them. allegations of italian aircraft attacking civilians have been disproved, italian aircraft did not have range hit such distant targets , concentrated on short-range military objectives (regia aeronautica wing roundels had 3 fasci littori, having replaced tricolour ones). concluded nothing more of myth, arising reaction italian attack, fame of italian air force , heated , confused climate.

middle east

destruction of muslim graveyard , istiklal mosque italian bombers during bombing of haifa, september 1940.

regia aeronautica aircraft involved in middle east start of italian involvement in world war ii. during anglo-iraqi war, german , italian aircraft of flyer command iraq (fliegerführer irak) stopped refuel in vichy french-controlled mandate of syria flew iraq. these masqueraded iraqi aircraft , painted such en route. continued concern on german , italian influence in area led allies syria-lebanon campaign.

in 1 of lesser known incidents of war, starting in july 1940, italian aircraft bombed cities in british mandate of palestine. push british , retake greater mediterranean in roman times. bombing of tel aviv on september 10, killed 137 people. in mid-october, italians bombed american-operated oil refineries in british protectorate of bahrain.

east africa

in italian east africa regia aeronautica performed better in other war theaters. ln june 1940, italian royal air force had here 195 fighters, bombers , reconnaissance aircraft, plus 25 transport planes. of these aircraft outdated, italians had savoia-marchetti sm.79 (12 examples) , savoia-marchetti sm.81 bombers , fiat cr-42 fighters. in relative terms, these of best aircraft on hand either side @ beginning of east african campaign. in addition, italian aircraft based @ better airfields of british , commonwealth forces. when war began, italian pilots relatively trained , confident of abilities. @ beginning of hostilities, regia aeronautica achieved aerial superiority , skilled italian pilots, flying fiat biplanes, managed shot down faster , better armed hawker hurricane monoplanes. however, during first 3 months, regia aeronautica lost 84 aircraft , had 143 aircrew personall killed , 71 wounded, losses did not halt italian operations. cut off italy though, problems lack of fuel, munitions, spare parts , replacements became serious problem , regia aeronautica worn down in war of attrition. 31 january, prince amedeo, duke of aosta, reported italian military forces in east africa down 67 operational aircraft limited fuel. end of february, regia aeronautica had 42 aircraft left in east africa, , british had upper hand. in march, surplus personnel of air force units had fight infantry. end of following month, italians had 13 serviceable aircraft left in east africa. @ last, on 24 october 1941, 1 month prior final italian surrender, last italian aircraft of campaign, fiat cr-42, shot down.

battle of britain

on 10 september 1940, independent air corps supporting luftwaffe in battle of britain established. named corpo aereo italiano, or cai. under command of generale rino corso fougier. comprised approximately 170 aircraft including 80 fiat br.20 bombers , 98 fiat g.50 , cr.42 fighters. transfer of planes completed 19 october. cai based in occupied belgium. bad weather , planes inadequate war theater hindered effective action cai. cr.42s clashed british hawker hurricanes , supermarine spitfires 2 times, in november. italians claimed 5 victories , 9 probables, 5 fiat biplanes shot down. raf, however, reported no losses. 17 bombing raids carried out br.20s did not cause material damage, aircraft needed on greek front , in cyrenaica in january 1941 bombers , cr.42s started withdrawn italy. 2 squadrons of g.50s remained until mid-april 1941. during campaign, regia aeronautica lost 36 planes, (including 26 in accidents) , 43 aircrew personnel, without achieving single confirmed air victory.

western desert

an macchi c.202 (note lack of radio mast) of 81ª squadriglia, 6° gruppo, 1° stormo ct; photo appears have been taken in libya.

initially, western desert campaign near equal struggle between regia aeronautica , british royal air force (raf). on, fighters available both sides older biplanes italian fiat cr.32 , fiat cr.42s flying against british gloster gladiators.

after italian disasters during operation compass , arrival of general erwin rommel , german africa corps, regia aeronautica in western desert fought side side on german luftwaffe.

although air campaign in libya limited because of desert conditions, italian royal air force managed retain force of 4 hundred airplanes. during first british counter-offensive, regia aeronautica had suffered heavy losses (over 400 aircraft) until axis attack on greece began, when major part of british land , air forces diverted there giving italian forces time recover. new italian aircraft , units supplemented arrival of german afrika corps, , attached luftwaffe contingent deployed 200 airplanes in libya , 600 in sicily. working luftwaffe, regia aeronautica performed better due exchange of tactical doctrine , arrival of more modern aircraft. in mid-1942, during battle of bir hakeim (26 may 1942 – 11 june 1942) new fighter macchi c.202 outperformed desert air force s fighters, achieving unprecedented ratio kill/loss of 4,4/1, better of famed messerschmitt bf 109s (3,5/1) fighting same battle. during rommel s first offensive, italians managed divert raf attacks rommel s forces , covered rommel s retreat during british operation crusader while inflicting heavy losses on raf bombers.

during rommel s second offensive regia aeronautica , luftwaffe suffered considerable losses due stronger allied resistance during air battles on el alamein , bombing raids on alexandria , cairo. regia aeronautica, having suffered heavy losses in egypt, withdrawn progressively tobruk, benghazi, tripoli and, eventually, tunisia.

malta

bombing of malta.

the regia aeronautica participated in air offensive on british controlled island of malta along german air force in attempt gain control of axis sea routes sicily, sardinia, , italy north africa. end of 1940, regia aeronautica carried out 7 410 sorties against island, dropping 550 tons of bombs, losing 35 aircraft. italians claimed 66 british planes, in these first 6 months of combact. these claims exaggerated. in 1941, regia aeronautica carried out further attacks on malta, less intensely in 1940. italian airmen started fear maltese fighters , aa artillery, flight besieged island became known rotta della morte, route of death . in 1942, operations against malta, between 1 january , 8 november, regia aeronautica had write off 100 more aircraft lost in action.

malta suffered heavy losses too, , edge of starvation. besieged island managed withstand attacks italian , german air forces , claimed 1,500 axis planes.

gibraltar

the regia aeronautica began attacks on british crown colony of gibraltar , important naval base since july 1940. in 1942, italian piaggio p.108 bombers attacked gibraltar sardinia, flying number of long-range night raids. october 1942, regia aeronautica carried out 14 raids total of 32 bombers.

the italian long-range bomber, piaggio p.108, ready attack gibraltar in 1942

the last raids on gibraltar done during 1943 allied landing in algeria, when bombers made successful strike on port of oran. unit of regia aeronautica fly piaggio p.108 274th long-range bombardment group formed in may 1941 first machines came off assembly lines. training , achieving full operation strength took far longer anticipated , 274th became operational in june 1942.

greece , yugoslavia

when, on 28 october 1940, greco-italian war started, italians fielded 193 combat aircraft failed achieve air superiority. gradually, italian air power (including squadrigle flying italian air bases) grew on 400 aircraft against dwindling numbers of royal hellenic air force. however, advantage did not stop hellenic army forcing regio esercito onto defensive , albania. british assistance in form of gladiator fighters , blenheim bombers late 1940 onwards provided relief hard-pressed greeks. in 1941, tide turned german wehrmacht launched simultaneous invasion of yugoslavia , of greece.

for 11 days campaign against yugoslavia, regia aeronautica deployed 600 aircraft, claiming 5 air victories (plus 100 planes destroyed on ground) , suffering 5 losses. however, point on, role of regia aeronautica in balkans campaign of support luftwaffe. support role continued during occupation of greece , occupation of yugoslavia followed.

the air war against greece cost italians 79 aircraft destroyed (65 shot down) , more 400 damaged. regia aeronautica claimed highly exaggerated 218 kills against greeks (who possessed less 100 combat aircraft in total) , british , 55 probables.

eastern front

in august 1941 regia aeronautica sent air corps of 1,900 personnel eastern front attachment italian expeditionary corps in russia (corpo di spedizione italiano in russia, or csir) , italian army in russia (armata italiana in russia, or armir) known italian air force expeditionary corps in russia (corpo aereo spedizione in russia). these squadrons, consisting of 22° gruppo ct 51 macchi c.200 fighters , 61° gruppo caproni ca 31 bomber, supported italian armed forces 1941 1943. based in ukraine , supported operations in stalingrad area. in mid 1942 more modern macchi c. 202 introduced operations in russia. csir subsumed armir in 1942 , armir disbanded in 1943 after disaster during battle of stalingrad. air corps pulled out of operations in january 1943, transferring odessa.

from 1944 1945, italian personnel operated baltic area , in northern part of eastern front under direct command of luftwaffe under name air transport group 1 (italian: 1° gruppo aerotrasporti terracciano , german: 1° staffel transportfliegergruppe 10 (ital)). group part of national republican air force of italian social republic.

tunisian campaign

by time of tunisian campaign, regia aeronautica , luftwaffe enjoyed parity let alone air superiority in north africa.

structure of regia aeronautica in 1943


sicilian campaign , before 8 september 1943

the regia aeronautica put in defensive role during sicilian campaign. italian pilots fighting against allied efforts sink regia marina ships. before allied invasion, huge allied bomber offensive struck airfields in sicily in effort gain further air superiority. left regia aeronautica weak, still alive aircraft continued arrive sardinia, southern italy, , southern france. last mission of regia aeronautica before truce allies defence during (usaaf) bombing on frascati—rome on september 8, 1943.

post-armistice

after italian armistice, regia aeronautica briefly followed 2 new italian air forces. headquartered @ salerno, in southern italy, royalist italian co-belligerent air force (aviazione cobelligerante italiana, or aci) fought alongside allied forces. in northern italy, national republican air force (aeronautica nazionale repubblicana, or anr) flew italian social republic , axis. first anr fighter unit 101st gruppo autonomo caccia terrestre, based in florence. aircraft of royal , republican air forces never fought each other. aci operated in balkans , anr operated in northern italy , area around baltic sea.

from 10 june 1940 8 september 1943, regia aeronautica lost 6,483 aircraft (other sources report 5,201 ), including 3,483 fighters, 2,273 bombers, torpedo-bombers , transports, plus 227 reconnaissance planes. royal italian air force claimed 4,293 enemy aircraft, including 1.771 destroyed on ground. personnel losses suffered during conflict consisted of 3,007 dead or missing, 2,731 wounded , 9,873 prisoners of war.

regia aeronautica aces (world war ii)

the regia aeronautica tended not keep statistics on individual level, instead reporting kills unit, attributed unit commander. however, pilots able keep personal log books, few survived through world war ii give individual statistics. here list of aces attributed ten or more kills.

teresio vittorio martinoli – 22 kills
franco lucchini – 22 kills (1 in spain)
leonardo ferrulli – 21 kills (1 in spain)
franco bordoni-bisleri – 19 kills
luigi gorrini – 19 kills
mario visintini – 17 kills
ugo drago – 17 kills
mario bellagambi – 14 kills
luigi baron – 14 kills
luigi gianella – 12 kills
attilio sanson – 12 kills
willy malagola – 11 kills
carlo magnaghi – 11 kills
angelo mastroagostino – 11 kills
giorgio solaroli di briona – 11 kills
mario veronesi – 11 kills
fernando malvezzi – 10 kills
giulio reiner – 10 kills
giuseppe robetto – 10 kills
carlo maurizio ruspoli di poggio suasa – 10 kills
massimo salvatore – 10 kills
claudio solaro – 10 kills
ennio tarantola – 10 kills
giulio torresi – 10 kills
adriano visconti – 10 kills