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Regia Aeronautica

Discussion in 'Air War in the Mediterrean' started by Friedrich, Jun 17, 2002.

  1. Friedrich

    Friedrich Expert

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    I have read several books which disdain a lot to the Italian armed forces in general and I do not think they were as bad as everybody say. Despite some bad weapons and bad officers they have nice armed forces. But the Italian are not warriors... they once were as Rome, but not any more.

    I have a book (I will not use like a source because it has a lot of errors), "Luftwaffe, an ilustrated history". Where it says that the 500 Italian aeroplanes destinated to Malta were useless. That mighty Luftwaffe had to do all the work. If those were 350 German aeroplanes and 500 Italian, I think it was a signifficant aid!
     
  2. Erich

    Erich Alte Hase

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    Friedrich :

    Does it list in your source the type of bomber or fighter for Malta ? The Italien a/c may not have had the range or may have not had the bomb load that the Luftwaffe thought was sufficient to attack Malta with.

    E
     
  3. Friedrich

    Friedrich Expert

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    No, it does not say that in the book. I tell you it is not a very good book. Actually there is a picture of GFM where it says it is a photo of GFM Maximilian von WEISCH (wouldn´t it be Weichs...) The book lost credibility at that moment. I have seen photographs of both the men and they are not similar in any physical aspect!

    I suposse many would have been Macchis, from 200 forward... Fiats 50, many Spavieros and more three-engined bombers. Even if they used old bombers. The modern aircraft were good!

    Actually, an Italian pilot sjot down 10 P-47s in 1943 in a Macchi-205!
     
  4. Erich

    Erich Alte Hase

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    That many victories against P=47's ? Interesting, Friedrich. Do you by chance have his name and rank and what unit ? I am supposing he flew against the US 12th Air force who were stationed in the Med.

    E
     
  5. Friedrich

    Friedrich Expert

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    According to the site Comando Supremo, is as follows:

    "The MC.205 reached Italian squadrons in June 1943 and was used over North Africa, Pantelleria, Sicily and Italy. On their first sortie, 25 MC.205s faced a larger number of P-40's and Spitfires. Over Sicily, the MC.205 was used to try and stop the American bombers. The first Stormo to get the MC.205 was the 1st Stormo. The 51st Stormo received their MC.205 in April 1943 and on 8/2/43, 6 MC.205 attacked 20 P-38 and P-40s destroying 6 of the Allied fighters for the loss of only 1 MC.205."

    I really did not remember very well what aeroplanes had the Macchis shot down. Just that they were P... They are not P-47, but the Macchis are still very good.
     
  6. Erich

    Erich Alte Hase

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    P-40's it is then......I'll dig into what I have whcih isn't much and maybew I can find more onthese June 1943 missions from the US perspective.

    E :D
     
  7. Friedrich

    Friedrich Expert

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    I think the Italian Regia Aeronautica was a force if not to defeat the British by itself, to help in great meassure the Luftwaffe. It had very brave men and experienced pilots who had flown all over: Spain, Abyssinia, etc. and were trained by excellent aviators like Marshall Italo Balbo. The Italian Air Force was the most modern in the 1920s and early 30s. That's why they were at about to win Schneider Cup. Then it was rapidly overwhemed by other air forces. But in 1940 they had some good aeroplanes; the "Sppaviero" was a very good torpedo plane, Fiat 50 was a good light fighter, Macchi 202 with A German engine was like the Me-109 (Not that good, but good) and Macchi 205 was very, very good. If it weren't for the officers, they could have done it better!
     

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