"Senta a pua!”: motto and war cry (in substance: launch yourself at the enemy with determination, glance and will annihilate him) of the 1° Grupo de Aviação de Caça or 1° GAvCa (1st Fighter Group) of the Força Aérea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force) in Italy. The motto is enclosed into the emblem of the Grupo which, equipped with Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, fought in Italy integrated in the USAAF’s 350th Fighter Group and based first at Tarquinia and, afterwards, at Pisa. The young pilot, born at Rio de Janeiro on 7 June 1924, is Roberto Tormim Costa, arrived at Pisa, San Giusto Airfield, with the rank of Aspirante Aviador (Ensign) on 25 December 1944 as pilot replacement of the 1o GavCa and assigned to Esquadrilha Verde (Green Flight) under the command of Capitão (Captain) Newton Lagares Silva. During its first mission, 4 January 1945, Roberto Tormim Costa placed his bombs on target and destroyed two German machine gun fire mounted over two trucks. The last mission of Tormim Costa was on 2 May 1945 and the pilot ended the war with 65 war missions. On 21 May 1945 Roberto Tormim Costa was promoted to the rank of 2o Ten. (2nd Lt.). Returned to Brazil aboard of an US Navy ship on 18 July 1945, Roberto Tormim Costa was assigned to Santa Cruz airbase (Rio de Janeiro) as a flight instructor, but on 29 April 1946, while doing maneuvers training using an AT-6D Texan collided with his wingman, a cadet, and was killed. Victor Sierra

"Senta a pua!”

Pisa airfield, January 27, 1945: the Thunderbolt of the Ten. Av. (Lt) Raymundo da Costa Canário, “Canarinho”, a Brazilian pilot of the 1º Grupo de Aviação de Caça (1st Fighter Group) of the FAB-Força Aérea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force) with a background of 50 war missions over the Italy, is returned to base after the loss of 128cm (more than four feet) of the right wing because the impact with a factory’s chimney during a very low level attack. A return seemingly impossible: a proof of the Thunderbolt’s reliability, of the pilot’s skill but also of the low level’s missions heavy risk. The Canário’s aircraft is the Republic P-47D USAAF s/n 44-19633, part of the USAAF’s contracts to Republic Aviation no W535-AC-29279-17, 106th of the sub-series P-47D-28-RE of a total of 750 aircraft, built at Farmingdale, accepted by USAAF on 14 July 1944 and destined to Mediterranean Theatre of Operations (MTO) on 2 August 1944. Switched to Brazilian Air Force’s 1st GAvCa (1º Grupo de Aviação de Caça) at this time based at Tarquinia, Tyrrhenian Coast, North of Rome, prior of deployment at Pisa, on 28 October 1944, FAB number 4120, and assigned to Esquadrilha Vermelha (Vermilion Squadron) with the Código de Esquadrilha (unit code) A6, pilot Ten. Av. Raymundo da Costa Canário. According Brazilian sources this plane is still existing and is the P-47D show into the Rio de Janeiro’s Museu Aeroespacial. The s/n 44-19633 was repaired and, returned in Brazil at the end of the war, was in service in the Base Aérea de Santa Cruz until 1953 when was stored in the Parque de Material Aeronáutico de São Paulo and afterwards transferred to a military base at Guaratinguetá, São Paulo, as gate guardian from 1959 to 1968. The airframe was transferred to Airspace Museum en 1986 and restored as P-47D s/n 44-19662, FAB 4119, D5, the Thunderbolt of 2nd Ten. Av. José Rebelo Meira de Vasconcelos, another Brazilian pilot of the Italian Campaign. On the list of the Brazilian Thunderbolts is recorded another A6, the P-47D-28-RE, USAAF s/n 44-19665 shot down by the AA fire at 9.45 a.m. on 23 December 1944. The pilot, 1st Ten. Av. Ismael da Motta Paes, bail out and was taken POW. Clearly this A6 isn’t the A6 of the photo. Victor Sierra

“Canarinho” is returned

Pisa, San Giusto airfield, Italy, Spring 1945: Brazilian Air Force’s 1° Ten. Av. (1st Lt) Othon Corrêa Neto, nickname “Serião”, in the cockpit of his aircraft, the Republic P-47D-25-RE Thunderbolt, s/n 42-26766, Code B4 (aircraft number 4 of the Esquadrilha Amarela/Flight Yellow, aircraft code B), all finish olive drab. Othon Corrêa Neto, born on 18 February 1921, was one of the 48 pilots which served in the 1° Grupo de Aviação de Caça or 1° GAvCa (1st Fighter Group) of the Força Aérea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force) during the Italian Campaign from late October 1944 to early May 1945. On 26 March 1945, during his 58th war mission, a rocket attack on anti-aircraft positions on Casarsa bridge, West of Udine, North-East Italy, Corrêa Neto was hit by the AA fire, bailed out successfully and was taken prisoner becoming one of the five Brazilian pilots POW (other three bailed out over hostile territory but escaped to capture thanks the help of Italian partisans or local populace). He returned to the squadron 7 days after the end of war and among many awards, he received US DFC and Air Medal and British DFC. Othon Corrêa Neto, which leaved the Brazilian Air Force with the rank of Brigadier General, passed away on 7 April 2008, aged 87 years. Victor Sierra