An Australian fighter-bomber, the Curtiss Kittyhawk Mark IV, FX745 fuselage’s code OK-Y of No. 450 Squadron RAAF, taxiing to the runway at Cervia, on Romagna, Northern Italy, loaded with three 250-lb GP bombs for a sortie in support of the 8th Army's spring offensive in the Po Valley. The No. 450 Squadron RAAF was at Cervia Airfield from 25 February 1945 to 19 May 1945. The Kittyhawk Mk IV (P-40N) was manufactured from 1943 until 1944. Victor Sierra

Australian Kittyhawk taxiing

Cutella Airfield, Central-Southern Italy, Adriatic Front, base of 3 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force, a fighter unit equipped with Curtiss Kittyhawk, 29 April 1944. American pilots flying four USAAF 325th Group’s P-47 Thunderbolts mistakenly strafed the Allied base thinking it was a German airfield as some Kittyhawk was in the dispersal with 500lb bombs loaded) destroying one of Australian fighters and killing the pilot of an air-sea-rescue unit’s Walrus. Victor Sierra

A tragic mistake

The damaged tail of Curtiss Kittyhawk Mark IV, FX529, of No. 450 Squadron RAAF, which was flown back to base at Cervia, Northern Italy, Spring 1945, by the Squadron Commander, Squadron Leader J C Doyle, after being hit by anti-aircraft fire during a ground attack sortie over the 8th Army Front. Victor Sierra