Italian Air Force
The story of
the Italian Air Force in World War II is really three
stories. The first is the story of the Regia Aeronautica,
the Royal Air Force, from the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935
until the Armistice of September 1943. The second chapter is
the story of the Aeronautica Nazionale Republicana (ANR),
whose pilots represented the newly formed Republica Sociale
Italia (RSI) puppet government and flew with the Luftwaffe
after the Armistice. Finally there is the story of the
Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force (ICBAF), whose pilots flew
with the Allies after the Armistice.
Italy was a reluctant participant in Southern Europe during
World War I on the side of the Allies and did not suffer the
economic and political hardships that the Treaty of
Versailles imposed on Germany. The Regia Aeronautica (RA),
was established in 1928 with 1700 planes and a vigorous
aviation industry. Italian airplane manufacturers, dominated
by industrial giant Fiat, were strongly committed to the
air-cooled engine. They believed them to be more reliable
and less prone to combat damage than water-cooled engines,
notwithstanding the limitations that design imposed on
power. Air-cooled engines meant minimal power and minimal
power meant minimal defensive weapons, minimal bomb carrying
capacity and no protection from armour plating. In the early
years, Italian-made airplanes were generally not equipped
with any type of radar or radio communications system and
thus needed daylight and good weather conditions in which to
operate.
Italy invaded their former African colony of Ethiopia on
October 3, 1935, and their planes, tanks and troops
dominated their nearly defenceless enemy. Following the
Ethiopian incursion, Mussolini sent 660 planes and 75,000
soldiers in October of 1936 to aid the Nationalist movement
of Francisco France at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil
War. The Regia Aeronautica, outfitted with generally
inferior and consistently underpowered airplanes, gave a
mediocre performance in Spain.
Fighter
Planes
Fiat CR-42
The
bi-winged Fiat Cr-32 was the workhorse of the RA. With two
12.7mm machine guns mounted on the fuselage, they were
synchronized to fire through the propeller at a rate of only
300 rounds per minute. Most foreign fighters were equipped
with 6-8 wing-mounted machine guns with
each typically capable of
firing 400-600 rounds per minute. Fiat dominated the fighter
production business in Italy. Notwithstanding the obvious
problems with the bi-wing design fighter as illustrated
regularly in the air war over Spain, Italy committed itself
to yet another generation of poorly designed fighter planes
when the RA decided to place an order for the Cr-42 from
Fiat. Their Fiat CR-42 second-generation fighter, the Cr-42
was also a bi-wing fighter. Eventually 1800 of these
obsolete planes were built for the RA. The G-50 represented
Fiat's first attempt at a mono-wing fighter although the
advantages of this design had been evident for some
considerable time.
The Italians
were reluctant to commit to a single mass-produced fighter
and instead began production on several competing models
simultaneously. Either they couldn't or wouldn't make a
decision or they didn't want to put all their eggs in one
basket. The Fiat G-50, Italy's transition from bi-wing to
mono-wing fighters, with a terrible preliminary
safety/performance record in Spain, came into service in
June of 1940 in the campaign against France. 780 were
ultimately built.
Macchi MC-202
The
accident-prone Macchi C-200 Lightning entered service
towards the end of 1940. Early 1942 saw an improved version
of the Lightning, the Macchi C-202 Thunderbolt powered by a
water cooled Daimler-Benz engine for the first time (a tacit
admission of the failure of Italian-made air-cooled
engines). Outfitted with the same two fuselage-mounted
12.7mm machine guns, it eventually added two 7.7mm
wing-mounted guns. A final improvement in the Macchi series
was the C-205 Greyhound in early 1943. It was equipped with
an even more powerful Daimler-Benz engine and for first time
two 20mm cannons. The table below summarizes the details of
the principal fighter planes of the Regia Aeronautica during
the period 1939-1943.
REGIA AERONAUTICA fighter planes in
WW2
Model |
Cr-42 |
Cr-50 |
C-200 |
C-202 |
C-205 |
Mfg |
Fiat |
Fiat |
Macchi |
Macchi |
Macchi |
Name |
Hawk |
Arrow |
Lightning |
Thunderbolt |
Greyhound |
Engine |
840 HP |
840 HP |
840 HP |
1175 HP *DB |
1475 HP **DB |
Load |
1268 lbs |
881 lbs |
950 lbs |
1300 lbs |
1800 lbs |
Speed |
272 mph |
300 mph |
320 mph |
370 mph |
400 mph |
Ceiling |
33,000 feet |
35,000 feet |
29,000 feet |
38,000 feet |
38,000 feet |
Range |
481 miles |
416 miles |
470 miles |
475 miles |
645 miles |
# Built |
1782 |
780 |
1153 |
1070 |
264 |
Armament |
2 12.7mm machine guns fuselage |
2 12.7mm machine guns fuselage |
2 12.7mm machine guns fuselage |
2 12.7mm mg fuselage, 2 7.7mm mg wings
|
2 12.7mm mg, 2 20 mm cannons wings |
In Service |
1939 |
1939 |
1940 |
1941 |
1943 |
*DB Daimler-Benz 601A engine
built under license by Alpha Romeo
**DB Daimler-Benz 605A engine built under license by Fiat
Bombers
Savoia-Marchetti S-79
The bomber
branch represented about 70% of the strength of the Regia
Aeronautica during 1939-1943. The Italians settled on the
tri-motor design, with basically a medium-range
capability for most of their bombers. The design created
difficulties for the bombardier and made head-on attacks
difficult to defend against. The problem of under-powered
engines plagued the bomber fleet as well as the fighters.
Generally they were lightly armed and carried a very
modest bomb load. Typical of the Italian bombers was the
Savoia-Marchetti S-79 Sparrowhawk. With a pair of machine
guns on both the top and bottom of the plane, it was
lightly armed. Powered by three 780 HP Alpha Romeo
engines, it had a top speed of 270 mph and a range of
1200 miles. This bomber, operating in North Africa, the
Balkans and the Mediterranean, proved no match for Allied
fighters and was ultimately converted to torpedo bomber
duty. Fiat manufactured the twin engine Br-20 medium
range bomber with the typical light defensive armament,
minimal bomb loads and limited range. The Piaggio S-82
was the workhorse of the transport fleet.
the role of
the REGIA AERONAUTICA 1940-1943
Italy entered World War II on June 10, 1940 with a
declaration of war against France. The German Blitzkrieg
in Western Europe was well underway and the outcome in
France was not in question. The RA was involved in
reconnaissance flights in Southern France and a number of
attacks on French airfields. The French surrendered on
June 24. The two week war wasn't much of a test for the
RA.
Several squadrons of the Regia Aeronautica based in
Belgium took part in 150 bombing raids over England
during the Battle of Britain beginning in October 1940.
The first major operational effort of the Italian Air
Force took place in the Balkans (Greece, Yugoslavia)
during the period October 1940 until April 1941. The
Allies had a distinct advantage since their planes
contained the electronic equipment that allowed them to
operate in bad weather and at night. The RA's role was
primarily one of close ground support.
July and August of 1941 saw units of the Regia
Aeronautica flying in Russia in support of 60,000 Italian
ground troops fighting in Operation Barbarossa. Not
surprisingly, mediocre airplanes, steady bad weather and
the Russian Winter, combined to minimize the impact of
the RA on the Eastern Front.
By far the major role played by the RA was against the
RAF and the USAAF in the Mediterranean area. Malta, North
Africa, Sicily and Italy were the sites of frequent
encounters between the RA and the Allies. The British
were required to resupply their forces in the area mainly
by sea. This gave the RA a regular inventory of naval
targets as late as mid-1943. In fairness, both Italian
and German operations in the Mediterranean were often
compromised as a result of the Ultra decrypts of Enigma
radio traffic. In general, the Regia Aeronautica fared
poorly in its encounters with Allied forces and was not a
significant factor in the war.
the significance of the Armistice
Sicily was invaded by the American and British armies on
July 10, 1943 and evacuated by the German and Italian
forces barely 5 weeks later. The handwriting was on the
wall for the Italians. Italy was obviously the next
target. The fascist government of Benito Mussolini
collapsed on July 25, 1943 with his resignation and
subsequent arrest. The new government was quick to
negotiate an unconditional surrender. The Armistice was
signed on September 3, and announced to the public 5 days
later as the American 5th Army was wading ashore on the
Italian mainland at Salerno just south of Naples. The
agreement required the Regia Aeronautica to transfer all
airplanes to Allied airfields.
This was
particularly difficult since most of the Italian
peninsula was occupied by heavily fortified German
positions and fierce battles were going on in southern
part of the country. To make matters more confusing,
Mussolini had been rescued by German paratroopers on
September 12, 1943, and Hitler had installed him as the
head of a puppet government, the Republica Sociale
Italiana (RSI) in the Northern part of the country. Not
surprisingly, some pilots decided to head North and fly
with the Luftwaffe while others headed South and joined
the invading Allies. Who decided to go where was not
simply a matter of politics or loyalty to a cause. It had
as much to do with where the units were located at the
time of the Armistice and, more importantly, where the
pilot's family was located within the country. Two
separate air forces came into existence after the
Armistice, each structured along the lines of their
respective allies (the Luftwaffe in the North and the
USAAF and the RAF in the South). The atmosphere was
reminiscent of a civil war.
the
AERONAUTICA NAZIONALE REPUBLICANA
Those Italian pilots from the Regia Aeronautia who went
North to fly for the Luftwaffe were called the
Aeronautica Nazionale Republicana (ANR). While trying to
maintain a separate identity from the Luftwaffe, they
quickly adopted the German ways of doing things. The ANR
was made up primarily of three fighter groups with three
squadrons each (approximately 200 pilots). The ANR's
primary mission was to repel attacks of medium and heavy
bombers of the 12th and 15th Air Forces. Since many
industrial targets in Northern Italian cities were being
attacked regularly after September 1943 by bombers of the
USAAF and the RAF, the bulk of the activities of the ANR
were mainly defensive in nature. Gradually the Germans
began to equip the ANR with Messerschmitt Bf-109s to
replace the inferior Italian-manufactured planes. In
August of 1944, the Germans, disappointed over the
performance of the ANR, attempted to officially disband
the organization and take over their equipment and
personnel.
Some ANR pilots
staged an armed rebellion and set fire to their planes
rather than surrender them to the Luftwaffe. Faced with
this unexpected reaction, the Germans backed off,
reassessed their position, rescinded the order, and sent
a new Luftwaffe commander to Italy. The Germans and the
Italians didn't get along particularly well before the
attempted "coup" and the relationship did not improve
afterwards. The Italians never shared the Germans' strong
feelings about their cause and their intensity for
organizing and managing. On the other hand, the Germans
viewed the Italians as not particularly motivated pilots,
with marginal skills and inferior equipment, and, from
whom minimal results could be expected. Predictably, the
ANR was plagued by chronic fuel and spare parts shortages
with the bombing of aircraft factories and railways in
Northern Italy. The ANR ceased to function at all in
early 1945.
Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force (ICBAF)
Following the Armistice, 203 planes of the Regia
Aeronautica made their way to Allied airfields including
39 fighters, 117 bombers and assorted transports,
seaplanes & torpedo bombers accompanied by a
substantially larger number of crews. The number grew to
281 by the end of the year. Of these, only 165 were in
flying condition. Many of these planes were technically
obsolete compared to the planes of the USAAF and the RAF.
After being re-equipped with Allied planes, the ICBAF
engaged in transport, escort, reconnaissance, sea rescue
and limited tactical ground support operations in the
Mediterranean theatre of war. These pilots flew over
11,000 missions in the final 18 months of the war. The
ICBAF was later renamed the Aeronautica Militare Italiano
(AMI). While deliberately maintaining a low profile in
Italy, their contributions to the war effort were
primarily in support roles. |
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