In October, 1943, a agreement was reached between Lt. Col Ernesto Botto and Luftwaffe Commander Generalfeldmarchall Wolfram von Richthofen in which Lt. Col Giuseppe Baylon was named head of the Italian Air ministry. This new Air Force would be named the Republican National Air Force (ANR). Initially, it was quite difficult to get an effective air force in action because the Germans captured approximately 1,000 of the Italian aircrafts still remaining in areas controlled by Germany. Towards the end of 1943, a number of C.205 V's were handed back to the Italians to form the Iº Gruppo Caccia, which debuted over Turin on 3 Jan 1944. Next came the Squadriglia Complementare Montefusco, equippied with G.55's and the IIº Gruppo Caccia, which was formed in April, 1944. IIIº Gruppo Caccia formed in summer 1944, but never achieved combat status. Losses were very high and the lack of spare parts made it quite difficult to maintain available aircraft. In most situations, the Italian pilots had to be retrained in the use of German BF 109G's due to the high losses of their domestic aircraft. In August 1944, the Germans tried to disband the ANR to force Italian pilots into the Luftwaffe. The pilots refused and burned their aircraft after their bases were surrounded by SS units. The crisis was resolved when German authorities reversed their decision. During the last year of war in Northern Italy, the ANR had the only Axis aircraft flying in the region. During the period it flew Macchis, the Iº Gruppo Caccia claimed 100 Allied aircraft with the same amount of losses. It downed more aircraft than any other Italian unit of its size. Comando Supremo: Repubblica Sociale Italiana
The Romanian's produced a cool looking fighter called the IAR 80 The country did not have a great production capicity so not many were built, but still a nice design.
