German Air Force

The Luftwaffe’s Fiat G.12

IMC Archives

Another Italian aircraft well appreciated by the Luftwaffe’s crew was the Fiat G.12, a modern all metal three engines especially suitable for troop transport, up 22 full equipped men, very faster of the Ju 52. After the Italy’s armistice (8 September 1943) the Luftwaffe seized some Regia Aeronautica’s G.12 and at same time ordered to Fiat the continuation of the production for its requirements. On Spring 1944 the assembly line of Turin’s Fiat factory was interrupted by the heavy Allied raids. The Reichsluftfahrtministerium at Berlin assigned the G.12s to Transportfliegerstaffel 4 (also knew as “Savoia Staffel”). On October 1943 the Staffel was moved from Italy, Grosseto airfield, to Celle, Lower Saxony, and on December had in fleet eight G.12 increased to 22 by April 1944. However the strong Allied air superiority over the Germany reduced the use’s possibilities of the transport aircraft and on June 1944 the Staffel moved prior to Schroda, near Posen, and after few days to Southern Germany. The new base of the G.12 was Dornberg, about 45 km SW of Würzburg, Bavaria. On autumn 1944 the G.12 still flyable were 18 and on September was switched to Hungarian Air Force for airborne troop’s transport. According some source early Spring 1945 the G.12 still in service with the Hungarian Air Force were only four, grounded for fuel lack and destroyed by means of explosive charges on 21 March 1945. Victor Sierra