REGIA AERONAUTICA

Insignia applied with a decal on the tail of the Règia Aeronautica aircraft (reconstruction).

Roundel on Regia Aeronautica's aircraft

The 'Règia Aeronautica', meaning (Italian) Royal Air Force, was Italy's air force established as an independent service from 1923 until Italy's transformation to a Republic in 1946.

Aircraft of the Règia Aeronautica

Fighters and fighter-bombers

Heavy fighters and fighter-bombers

Bombers

Recon and/or Transport

Training and Auxiliary roles

Prototypes

Règia Aeronautica Aces (World War Two)

Notable Members of the Règia Aeronautica

A brief history

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 October 23, and the first ever bombing raid on November 1.
During World War I the Italian ''Corpo Aeronautico Militare'', then still part of the army, operated a mix of French fighters and locally-built bombers, notably the gigantic Caproni aircraft. ''Règia Marina'' (the navy) had its own air arm, operating locally-built flying boats.
The Italian air force became an independent service - the ''Règia Aeronautica'' - on March 28, 1923. The Fascist regime of Mussolini turned it into an impressive propaganda machine, with its aircraft, featuring red-and-buff "rising sun" livery on the wings, making numerous record-breaking flights. It reached its zenith when two fleets of flying boats, led by General Italo Balbo, crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1931 and 1933 respectively. During the latter half of the 1930s, the ''Règia Aeronautica'' participated in the Spanish Civil War, as well as the invasion of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia).

Macchi C.200 fighter prototype with enclosed cockpit.

When World War II began in 1939, Italy had the smallest air force among the three major Axis powers. With a paper strength of 3,296 machines only 2,000 were fit for operations, of which just 166 were modern fighters - the Macchi MC.200 and Fiat G.50 were still slower than their potential Allied opponents. While numerically still a force to be reckoned with, it was hampered by an inadequate local aircraft industry; technical assistance by its German ally did little to improve the situation.
The last mission of the Règia Aeronautica was the defence of USAF bombing on Frascati - Rome in September 8th 1943.
The ''Règia Aeronautica'' officially ceased to exist when Italy became a republic on June 2 1946, succeeded by the Aeronautica Militare.

Abyssinian Campaign

During the Ethiopian campaign, the RA performed massive poison gas bombings over the Ethiopian soldiers. Despite being inadequately equipped, the RA managed to decimate Ethiopian forces and undertook massive bombings of Ethiopian cities (particularly Addis Abeba). The operations of the Règia Aeronautica was crucial for the success of the invasion of the ''Règio Esercito'' (Italian army) and was enhanced by the total lack of Ethiopian air forces.

Spanish Civil War

During the Spanish Civil War Italian pilots fought alongside Spanish Nationalist and German Luftwaffe forces as Aviazione Legionaria (Aviation Legion). This deployment took place from July 1936 to March 1939 and complimented an expeditionary force of Italian ground troops titled Corpo Truppe Volontarie. In Spain the Italian pilots were under direct command of the Spanish Nationalists and took part in training and joint operations with the German voluntary force titled Legion Kondor.

Libyan Campaign

Although the Libyan campaign was seriously limited because of desert conditions, the Règia Aeronautica managed to retain a force of nearly four hundred airplanes, most of them obsolete biplanes such as the Fiat CR-32 and Fiat CR-42. During the first offensive towards Sidi Barrani, the Règia Aeronautica performed poorly, despite minimal enemy resistance. During the first British counter-offensive, the Règia Aeronautica suffered heavy losses (over 400 aircraft) until the German attack on Greece, when British forces had to divert a major part of their land and air forces thus giving the Italian forces enough time to deploy more units and strengthen their air forces. These were supplemented by the arrival of Rommel's Afrika Korps, and the attached Luftwaffe forces deployed almost 200 airplanes in Libya and another 600 in Sicily.
Next to the Luftwaffe, the Italian air force performed better due to the exchange of tactical doctrine between services and the arrival of more modern aircraft. During Rommel's first offensive they managed to keep RAF fighters away from Rommel's forces, and covered Rommel's retreat during the British Operation Crusader while inflicting heavy losses on the RAF bombing airplanes.

Italian biggest control of mediterranean areas (within green line & dots) in 1942.

During Rommel's second offensive the Règia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe suffered considerable losses due to stronger Allied resistance until its almost complete destruction during the air battles over El Alamein and the bombing raids over Alexandria and Cairo.
The Règia Aeronautica, almost destroyed in Egypt, was quickly retired to Tobruk, Benghazi, Tripoli and eventually Tunisia.
The Règia Aeronautica also participated in the air offensive on the British controlled island of Malta in an attempt to gain control of the Axis sea routes from Sicily, Sardinia and Italy to North Africa. Although on the edge of starvation and suffering heavy losses, Malta managed to withstand the attacks from the Italian and German air forces, and inflicted losses of almost 1,500 planes. The battle cost the British 800 planes and considerable numbers of transport ships, but the price was worth it: 60% of Axis supplies sent to Africa were sunk thanks to Malta-based aircraft, submarines and destroyers.

Battle of France

During the Battle of France the ''Règia Aeronautica'' carried out 716 bombing missions in support of the Italian invasion, dropping a total of 276 tons of bombs.

Battle of Britain

From October 25 1940, some 170 Italian planes (including 73 Fiat Br.20 bombers) were sent to occupied Belgium to form the Corpo Aereo Italiano (CAI) to participate in the Battle of Britain. The unit achieved limited succes and in December 1940 the Corps was withdrawn to Greece. [1]

Russian Campaign

Italian Air Force detachment sent to the Eastern Front were known as the "Corpo Aereo Spedizione in Russia" and acted from 1941 (from Ukraine),to 1942-43 (Stalingrad operations). It later operated under direct command of the German Luftwaffe under the name 1° Gruppo Aerotransporti "Terracciano", A.N.R. (known also as 1° Staffel Transportfliegergruppe 10 (Ital)) and operated from the Baltic area and North Russian Front during 1944-45.

Tunisian Campaign

Sicilian Campaign

The Règia Aeronautica was put in a defensive role in Sicily, constantly fighting against allied efforts to sink Regia Marina ships. Just before the allied invasion of Sicily, a huge allied bomber offensive struck the airfields in Sicily in an effort to gain further air superiority. This left the Règia Aeronautica very weak, but still alive as planes continued to arrive from Sardinia, southern Italy, and southern France.

Aircraft of the Règia Aeronautica

Fighters and fighter-bombers

★ Ambrosini S.A.I.207

★ Fiat CR.32

★ Fiat CR.42 ''Falco''

★ Fiat G.50 ''Freccia''

★ Fiat G.55 ''Centauro''

★ Macchi C.200 ''Saetta''

★ Macchi C.202 ''Folgore''

★ Macchi C.205 ''Veltro''

★ Reggiane Re.2000 ''Falco I''

★ Reggiane Re.2001 ''Falco II''

★ Reggiane Re.2002 ''Ariete''

★ Reggiane Re.2005 ''Sagittario''

★ Caproni Vizzola F.5

Règia Aeronautica Aces (World War Two)

The Règia 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.

★ Franco Lucchini- 24 kills

★ Teresio Martinoli- 23 kills

★ Leonardo Ferrulli- 22 kills

★ 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

★ 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

Notable Members of the Règia Aeronautica

★ Italo Balbo

★ Francesco Baracca (precursor)

★ Ettore Muti

★ Pier Ruggero Piccio, founding Chief of Staff

★ Umberto Nobile

★ Vittorio Revetra

References

★ Apostolo, Giorgio, "Italian Aces of World War II", Osprey Publishing, London, 2000. ISBN 1-84176-078-1

External links

★ A well-sourced list of pilots' stats

★ An article on Italian aces

This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.

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REGIA AERONAUTICA

A brief history

Abyssinian Campaign

Spanish Civil War

Libyan Campaign

Battle of France

Battle of Britain

Russian Campaign

Tunisian Campaign

Sicilian Campaign

Aircraft of the Règia Aeronautica

Fighters and fighter-bombers

Heavy fighters and fighter-bombers

Bombers

Recon and/or Transport

Training and Auxiliary roles

Prototypes

Règia Aeronautica Aces (World War Two)

Notable Members of the Règia Aeronautica

See also

References

External links

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