Italian Forces

Winter in Albania

Istituto Luce

With engines and cockpit covered by canvas against the freezing climate of the Balkan winter, an Italian bomber Savoia-Marchetti S.79 parked on the snow-capped Albanian airfield of Shkodra (Scutari for the Italians). The plane is one of the bombers of the 252nd Squadriglia, 104th Gruppo, 46th Stormo moved between late October and early November 1940 from Pisa to Tirana, and later at Shkodra/Scutari tasked for the air warfare against the Greece. According to the fuselage’s white strip, the photo’s date is late 1940 or early 1942. Victor Sierra