Italian Forces

Italian co-belligerent plane in color

The color photos of the Italian co-belligerent Air Force’s aircrafts are extremely uncommon. In this photo, perhaps taken at Lecce, end 1943 or early 1944, a former bomber CRDA Cant-Z-1007bis “Alcione” of the 260th Squadriglia, 106th Gruppo Autonomo (Autonomous Group) employed for supply’s drops to Italian and partisan forces in the Balkans. Note the long exhaust pipe of the center’s engine adopted already in the previous years for night missions. Uncommon is also the aircraft’s individual number, 2 in this case, repeated over the tail. The overall finish of the plane is dark olive green. Victor Sierra