Italian Forces

Italian fighter in Russia

Stato Maggiore Aeronautica

Eastern Front, winter 1941-1942: an Italian fighter Macchi MC.200 warming up the engine on a snow capped Russian airfield, Krivoj Rog or Stalino. The aircraft is one of 51 MC.200s of 22nd Gruppo Caccia (22nd Fighter Group) deployed as part of Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia’s air component and arrived on the Eastern Front on 12 August 1941. The 22nd Gruppo, leaded by the Maggiore (Major) Giovanni Borzoni, was composed by the Squadriglie 359th (Capt. Vittorio Minguzzi), 362nd (Capt. Germano La Ferla), 369th (Capt. Giorgio Iannicelli) and 371st (Capt. Enrico Meille). The aircraft of this photo, number 1 of 369th Squadriglia (369-1), is the Major Borzoni’s personal MC.200 (the thin strip in tail is the sign of the aircraft of the Gruppo’s commander) which has the colors adopted for the Italian aircraft in Russia: engine cowling and fuselage band yellow, little triangles on leading edge white). Under the cockpit the Gruppo’s emblem: a scarecrow smoking six star in the pipe. Note the paint’s poor condition caused by the prolonged exposure open air to weather elements like snow and ice. The MC.200 today on display at the Vigna di Valle’s Italian Air Force Museum has the same colors and markings of this picture’s aircraft. Victor Sierra