An obsolescent Italian fighter Fiat CR.32  still in active duty in patrol over the Dodecanese, 1941. The plane is perhaps a fighter of 162nd Squadriglia based at Gadurrà, Rhodes. Victor Sierra

In flight over the Dodecanese

Italian biplane fighters on Scarpanto, Aegean. In foreground a Fiat CR.42 of 164th Squadriglia, in background a Fiat CR.32 of 163th Squadriglia, 1941. Replaced the obsolescent CR.32s with the CR.42, with the two Squadriglie was formed the 161st Gruppo Autonomo Caccia (Autonomous Fighter Group) equipped with forty-two aircrafts, all CR.42s, with auxiliary tank to raise the range to 1,000 km. From the basis of Scarpanto and Gadurrà, this planes. Equipped with bombs under the wings, was employed also to support the conquest of Crete’s Island, from 20 to 31 May 1941, raiding Hierapetra, Kastellion and Arkalokori and strafing the Heraklion’s airfield and troops at Mokkos. Victor Sierra

Italian biplane fighters

Two fighter’s generations in a Sicilian airfield, perhaps Comiso, 1941 On the right an Italian biplane Fiat CR.42 on maintenance, on the left a Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitt Bf-109E of Tenth German Air Corps on taxiing. Victor Sierra