Regia Aeronautica
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The Royal Italian Air Force (Regia Aeronautica Italiana) (RAI) was the name of the
History
Beginnings
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Italy was at the forefront of aerial warfare: during the colonization of Libya in 1911, it made the first reconnaissance flight in history on 23 October, and the first ever bombing raid on 1 November.
During
Founding of the Regia Aeronautica
The Italian air force became an independent service—the Regia Aeronautica—on 28 March 1923.
During the latter half of the 1930s, the Regia Aeronautica participated in the Spanish Civil War, as well as the invasions of Ethiopia and Albania.
Ethiopian war
The first test for the new Italian Royal Air force came in October 1935,[4] with the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. During the final stages of the war, the Regia Aeronautica deployed up to 386 aircraft, operating from Eritrea and Somalia. The Italian aviators did not have any opposition in the air, as the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force had just 15 transport and liaison aircraft, only nine of which were serviceable. However, the Regia Aeronautica lost 72 planes and 122 aircrew[5] while supporting the operations of the Regio Esercito, sometimes dropping poison gas bombs against the Ethiopian army. After the end of hostilities on 5 May 1936, for the following 13 months the Regia Aeronautica had to assist Italian forces in fighting Ethiopian guerrillas.[6]
Spanish Civil War
During the Spanish coup of July 1936, Italian pilots in Spanish Foreign Legion uniforms airlifted Francisco Franco's Army of Africa from Spanish Morocco to the Spanish mainland.[7] During the Spanish Civil War Italian pilots fought alongside Spanish Nationalist and German Luftwaffe pilots as members of the Aviazione Legionaria ("Aviation Legion"). This deployment took place from July 1936 to March 1939 and complemented an expeditionary force of Italian ground troops called the "Corps of Volunteer Troops". In Spain, the Italian pilots were under direct command of the Spanish Nationalists and took part in training and joint operations with the pilots of the German "Condor Legion". Mussolini sent to Spain 6000 aviation personnel as well as about 720 aircraft, including 80-90
Albania
The Regia Aeronautica played a limited role during the Italian invasion of Albania in 1939.[citation needed]
World War II
In July 1939, the Regia Aeronautica was seen as splendid air arm, holding no fewer than 33 world records, which was more than
Battle of France
On 10 June 1940, during the closing days of the
After the war, there was a widespread rumour in France, especially between Paris and Bordeaux, of Italian aircraft strafing civilian columns, with many people claiming to have seen the tricolour roundels painted on them. These allegations have been disproved, as the Italian aircraft did not have the range to hit such distant targets and concentrated on short-range military objectives (Regia Aeronautica wing roundels had three fasci littori, having replaced the tricolour ones). It was concluded that this was nothing more than a myth, arising from the reaction to the Italian attack, the fame of the Italian air force and the heated and confused climate.[15]
Middle East
Regia Aeronautica aircraft were involved in the
In one of the lesser known incidents of the war, starting in July 1940, Italian aircraft bombed cities in the British Mandate of Palestine. This was aimed at pushing the British back and retaking the greater Mediterranean, as in ancient Roman times. The bombing of Tel Aviv on 10 September killed 137 people. In mid-October, the Italians also bombed American-operated oil refineries in the British Protectorate of Bahrain.[16]
East Africa
In Italian East Africa the Regia Aeronautica performed better than in other war theaters.
In June 1940, the Italian Royal Air Force had here 195 fighters, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft, plus 25 transport planes.
Battle of Britain
On 10 September 1940, an independent air corps for supporting Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain was established. It was named Corpo Aereo Italiano, or CAI. It was under command of Generale Rino Corso Fougier. It comprised
approximately 170 aircraft
Western Desert
Initially, the
After the Italian disasters during Operation Compass and the arrival of General Erwin Rommel and his German Africa Corps, the Regia Aeronautica fought side by side with the German Luftwaffe in the Western Desert.
Although the air campaign in Libya was seriously limited because of desert conditions, the Italian Royal Air Force managed to retain a force of nearly four hundred airplanes. During the first British counter-offensive, the Regia Aeronautica had suffered heavy losses (over 400 aircraft) until the
During Rommel's second offensive, the Regia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe suffered considerable losses due to stronger Allied resistance during air battles over El Alamein and bombing raids over Alexandria and Cairo. The Regia Aeronautica, having suffered heavy losses in Egypt, was withdrawn progressively to Tobruk, Benghazi, Tripoli and, eventually, Tunisia.
Malta
The Regia Aeronautica participated in the air offensive on the British controlled island of Malta along with the German Air Force in an attempt to protect the Axis sea routes from Sicily, Sardinia, and Italy to North Africa. Up to the end of 1940, the Regia Aeronautica carried out 7410 sorties against the island, dropping 550 tons of bombs, but losing 35 aircraft. The Italians claimed 66 British planes in these first six months of combat, but these claims were exaggerated.[28] In 1941, Regia Aeronautica carried out further attacks on Malta, but less intensely than in 1940. The Italian airmen started to fear Maltese fighters and AA artillery, so much that the flight to the besieged island became known as the rotta della morte, the "route of death".[29] In 1942, for its operations against Malta, between 1 January and 8 November, the Regia Aeronautica had 100 more aircraft lost in action.[30]
Malta suffered heavy loss of equipment, ship, and vehicles, and was to the edge of starvation. However the besieged island managed to withstand the attacks from the Italian and German air forces and claimed almost 1,500 Axis planes,[30] three times the real losses: up to November 1942, the Luftwaffe admitted to losing 357 aircraft and the Regia Aeronautica 210.[31] But during the siege, the RAF's losses were even heavier, amounting to 547 in the air (including some 300 fighters) and 160 on the ground, plus 504 aircraft damaged in the air and 231 on the ground.[32]
Gibraltar
The Regia Aeronautica began its attacks on the British crown colony of Gibraltar and its important naval base from July 1940.[13] In 1942, Italian Piaggio P.108 bombers attacked Gibraltar from Sardinia, flying a number of long-range night raids.[33] Up to October 1942, the Regia Aeronautica carried out 14 raids with a total of 32 bombers. [13]
The last raids on Gibraltar were flown during the 1943 Allied landing in Algeria, when those bombers also made a successful strike on the port of Oran. The only unit of the Regia Aeronautica to fly the Piaggio P.108 was the 274th Long-Range Bombardment Group, which was formed in May 1941 as the first machines came off the assembly lines.[citation needed] Training and achieving full operation strength took far longer than anticipated, and the 274th only became operational in June 1942.
Greece and Yugoslavia
When the
For the 11-day campaign against Yugoslavia, the Regia Aeronautica deployed 600 aircraft, claimed five air victories (plus 100 planes destroyed on the ground) and suffered five losses.
The Regia Aeronautica claimed 218 aircraft shot down plus 55 probables against the RHAF and RAF, while the Greeks claimed 68 air victories (plus 23 probables) and the British 150 kills. Actually the air war against Greece cost the Italians just 65 losses (but 495 damaged)[37] while RAF losses in the Greek campaign were 209 aircraft, 72 in the air, 55 on the ground, and 82 destroyed or abandoned during the evacuation.[38]
Eastern Front
In August 1941 the Regia Aeronautica sent an Air Corps of 1,900 personnel to the
From 1944 to 1945, Italian personnel operated from the
Tunisian Campaign
By the time of the
Sicilian Campaign and before 8 September 1943
The Regia Aeronautica was forced on the defensive during the Sicilian Campaign. Italian pilots were constantly fighting against Allied efforts to sink Regia Marina ships. Just before the Allied invasion, a huge Allied bomber offensive struck the airfields in Sicily in an effort to gain further air superiority. This left the Regia Aeronautica very weak, but aircraft continued to arrive from Sardinia, southern Italy, and southern France. The last mission of the Regia Aeronautica before the truce with the Allies was the defence during the United States Army Air Forces' bombings of Frascati and Rome on 8 September 1943.
Post-armistice
After the
From 10 June 1940 up to 8 September 1943, the Regia Aeronautica lost 6483 aircraft[39] (other sources report 5201[40]), including 3483 fighters, 2273 bombers, torpedo-bombers and transports, plus 227 reconnaissance planes. The Royal Italian Air Force itself claimed 4293 enemy aircraft, including 1771 destroyed on the ground.[39] Personnel losses suffered during the conflict consisted of 3007 dead or missing, 2731 wounded and 9873 prisoners of war.[41]
Regia Aeronautica Aces (World War II)
The Regia Aeronautica tended not to keep statistics on the individual level, instead reporting kills for a certain unit, attributed to their unit commander. However, pilots were able to keep personal log books, so the few that survived through World War II give individual statistics. Here is a list of the aces attributed with ten or more kills:[42]
- 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
Aircraft
Notable members of the Règia Aeronautica
- Italo Balbo
- Francesco Baracca (precursor)
- Ettore Muti
- Pier Ruggero Piccio, founding Chief of Staff
- Umberto Nobile
- Vittorio Revetra
- Gaetano Costa
The end of the Regia Aeronautica
The Regia Aeronautica was succeeded by Aeronautica Militare when Italy became a republic on 2 June 1946.
See also
- Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana
- Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force
- List of aircraft of World War II
- Royal Italian Army
- Regia Marina
References
- ^ OCLC 783163618.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 19.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 20.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 22.
- ^ Neulen 2000, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 23.
- S2CID 227568935.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 25.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 26.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 29.
- ^ a b Neulen 2000, p. 30.
- ^ a b Cattaneo 1971, p. 5.
- ^ a b c d Neulen 2000, p. 32.
- ^ Angelucci, Enzo and Paolo Matricardi. World Aircraft: World War II, Volume I (Sampson Low Guides). Maidenhead, UK: Sampson Low, 1978., p. 197"
- ^ Rochat, Giorgio (15 March 2008). "La campagne italienne de juin 1940 dans les Alpes occidentales". Revue historique des armées (250): 77–84. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
- ^ Time magazine, Record Raid
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 39.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 40.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 44.
- ^ Andrew Mollo, The Armed Forces of World War II, p. 91
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 35.
- ^ a b Neulen 2000, p. 36.
- ^ Harvey 1993, p. 607.
- ^ De Marchi 1976, pp. 6–7.
- ^ Green & Swanborough 1982, p. 310.
- ^ Palermo 2014, p. 222.
- ^ Palermo 2014, pp. 255–264.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 50.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 53.
- ^ a b Neulen 2000, p. 55.
- ^ Rogers 2000, p. 220.
- ^ Rogers 2000, pp. 220–221.
- ^ Greene & Massignani 2002, p. 235.
- ^ Carr 2012, p. 16
- ^ Neulen 2000, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Neulen 2000, p. 38.
- ^ Carr 2012, p. 171.
- ^ Terraine 1997, p. 334.
- ^ a b Neulen 2000, p. 75.
- ^ 'Combat Kill', Morgan & Seibel,1997
- ^ 'Combat Kill', Morgan & Seibel, 1997
- ^ Massimelo-Apostolo 2000, p. 86.
Bibliography
- Apostolo, Giorgio (2000). Italian Aces of World War II. Botley, Kent: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-078-1.
- Carr, John (2012). On Spartan Wings. Barnsley, SY: Pens & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-84884-798-9.
- De Marchi, Italo (1976). Fiat BR.20 Cicogna. Le macchine e la storia. Modena: Editore S.T.E.M. Mucchi. OCLC 731413518.
- Garello, Giancarlo (October 1996). "La militarisation de l'aviation civile italienne durant la seconde Guerre Mondiale (1ère partie)" [The Militarization of Italian Civil Aviation During the Second World War]. Avions: Toute l'aéronautique et son histoire (in French) (43): 2–4. ISSN 1243-8650.
- Garello, Giancarlo (November 1996). "La militarisation de l'aviation civile italienne durant la seconde Guerre Mondiale (fin)". Avions: Toute l'aéronautique et son histoire (in French) (44): 3–7. ISSN 1243-8650.
- Green, William; Swanborough, Gordon, eds. (June 1982). "Fiat BR.20... Stork à la mode". ISSN 0306-5634.
- Greene, J.; Massignani, A. (2002) [1998]. The Naval War in the Mediterranean 1940–1943 (pbk. ed.). Rochester: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-86176-190-3.
- Harvey, Arnold D. (1993). Collision of Empires: Britain in Three World Wars 1793–1945. London: Hambledon Press. ISBN 1-85285-078-7.
- Massimello, Giovanni and Giorgio Apostolo. Italian Aces of World War 2. Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2000. ISBN 978-1-84176-078-0.
- Neulen, Hans Werner. In the Skies of Europe. Ramsbury, Marlborough, UK: The Crowood Press, 2000. ISBN 1-86126-799-1.
- Palermo, Michele (2014). Eagles over Gazala: Air Battles in North Africa, May–June 1942. Roma: IBN Editore. ISBN 978-88-7565-168-8.
- Rogers, Anthony, Battle over Malta - Aircraft Losses & Crash Sites 1940-42. Phoenix Mill Thrupp - Strout, Gloucestershire, Sutton Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-7509-2392-X.
- Shores, Christopher (1976). Regia Aeronautica: A Pictorial History of the Italian Air Force, 1940–1943. Warren, Michigan: Squadron/Signal. OCLC 3089044.
Further reading
- Brookes, Andrew (2000). Air War Over Italy: 1943–1945. Hersham, UK: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-71102-690-2.
- Cattaneo, Gianni (1971). Fiat CR.42. Modena: Editore S.T.E.M. Mucchi.
- Dunning, Chris (2009). Courage Alone: The Italian Air Force 1940–1943 (rev. ed.). Hikoki. ISBN 978-1902109091.
- Dunning, Chris (2009). Regia Aeronautica: The Italian Air Force 1923–1945 – An Operational History. Hersham, UK: Classic Publications (Ian Allan). ISBN 978-1-906537-02-9.
- Shores, Christopher; Massimello, Giovanni; Guest, Russell (2012). A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945: North Africa, June 1940 – January 1942. Vol. 1 (1st ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Casemate. ISBN 978-1-90811-707-6.
- Shores, Christopher; Massimello, Giovanni; Guest, Russell (2014). A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940–1945: North African Desert, February 1942 – March 1943. Vol. 2. London: Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-90916-612-7.
- Terraine, John (1997). The Right of the Line. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 1-85326-683-3.