Aerial photo (1944) of great airfield of Amendola, part of the Foggia Airfield Complex, a series of military airfields located within a 40 km (25 mi) radius of Foggia, in the Province of Foggia, Puglia, Italy, used by the United States Army Air Force Fifteenth Air Force as part of the strategic bombardment campaign against Germany in 1944 and 1945, as well as by Twelfth Air Force and the Royal Air Force during the Italian Campaign (1943–1945).
Located approximately 16km northeast of Foggia, Amendola Airfield, former airport of Italian Regia Aeronautica was used by Fifteenth Air Force, primarily for heavy bombardment units. Repaired by United States Army Corps of Engineers  (COE) in September 1943 was put into use immediately. The US Army Air Force's units deployed at Amendola were: 2d Bombardment Group, (B-17 Flying Fortress), 19 November 1945-28 February 1946;
57th Fighter Group, (P-47 Thunderbolt), 27 October 1943-1 March 1944; 97th Bombardment Group, (B-17 Flying Fortress), 16 January 1944-1 October 1945; 321st Bombardment Group, (B-25 Mitchell), 20 November 1943-14 January 1944.  Last USAAF unit left in March 1946 and airfield turned over to Italian Regia Aeronautica (after June 2, 1946, Aeronautica Militare), Today Amendola, one of larger airports of Italian Air Force, is base of 32nd Stormo equipped with AMX and, in its 28th Gruppo, UAV Predator. Victor Sierra

Amendola, a major airfield

From Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 35, October 7, 1943 "ITALIAN SM-82 - The Savoia-Marchetti-82 "Canguru", the largest of Italy's 3-engine aircraft, not only constitutes about 75 to 85 per cent of the Italian Air Force transport fleet but has been the only reported Italian plane in substantial use by the Germans. Recent reports indicate that some of these planes have been used by the Germans to evacuate troops from Corsica. A development of the SM-75, with deeper fuselage and a single fin and rudder of radically different design, it is a 4- or 5-place, 3-engine, low-wing cantilever monoplane with wings tapering moderately to rounded tips, and hydraulic landing gear. The fuselage is wide and deep, with 8 windows high up and 3 below along both sides. It has a wing span of 97 feet, 6 inches, a length of 73 feet, 6 inches, and a gross wing area of 1,290 square feet. The aircraft is powered with 3 Alfa Romeo 128 RC 21 9-cylinder air-cooled radial engines, each capable of 860 hp at 6,900 feet altitude. The maximum speed is 205 mph at 7,000 feet, and 185 mph at sea level. Normal cruising speed is 172 mph at 10,000 feet, and economical speed, 155 mph. The service ceiling with a normal load is 17,000 feet, and the range is 1,160 miles or 6.8 hours.  Self-sealing tanks fitted into the wings have a total capacity of 928 U.S. gallons. Additional fuselage self-sealing tanks may be installed to hold 639 U.S. gallons, making a maximum fuel load of 1,567 U.S. gallons. The armament consists of one 7.7-mm free machine gun in the forward fuselage with a 60° traverse, one 12.7-mm free machine gun in the hand operated dorsal position just aft of the cockpit, with a 360° field of fire, and two 7.7-mm free machine guns in the lateral positions, each capable of a 65° traverse. The airplane is not fitted with armor. 
The "Canguru" is reported to be capable of carrying the following alternative loads: 
(1) 75-mm gun with ammunition and/or one flame-throwing outfit with crew and equipment 
(2) small tank 
(3) 51 men with light automatic weapons 
(4) a dismantled Fiat CR-42 fighter, which is carried with wings detached and stowed along the sides of the fuselage. 
The SM-82 is well known for its four-day, 16,200-mile liaison flight from Rome to Tokyo and return in 1942. In 1939 it set a world's closed circuit distance record when it covered approximately 8,000 miles at an average speed of 143 mph remaining in the air for 56 1/2 hours. The aircraft has seen extensive service throughout all the various African campaigns". Two more precise informations: 1) The name "Canguro" (and not "Canguru") is incorrect: the name correct is "Marsupiale" (Marsupial). 2) The flight Rome-Tokyo and return was performed by a SM.75, not by a SM.82. Victor Sierra

SM.82 according the US Intelligence

The No. 22, April 8, 1943, of  &quot;Tactical and Technical Trends&quot; a bulletin biweekly, and later monthly, published by the U.S. Military Intelligence Service from June 1942 to June 1945, printed an article entitled &quot;Italian Fighter Planes&quot;. This is the chapter dedicated to MC.202. &quot;The Macchi-202, one of the best Italian fighters, is a single-seat, low-wing cantilever monoplane, powered by one, twelve-cylinder, Daimler-Benz 601 A/1 engine of the inverted &quot;V&quot; liquid-cooled type. It is of all-metal construction with smooth stressed skin and has moderately tapered wings with a span of 34 feet 8 inches and a gross area of 181 square feet. The fuselage is oval, with the cockpit over the trailing edge of the wing. Camber-changing flaps are interconnected with the ailerons. It has an adjustable stabilizer and a hydraulically operated landing gear retracting inward into the wings. The tail wheel is fixed. The latest type of engine is reported to develop 1,150 hp at 16,000 feet, which would permit a sea-level speed of 295 mph, a cruising speed of 310 mph at 18,000, and a maximum speed of 360 mph at 20,000. The airplane is believed capable of reaching an altitude of 18,000 feet in approximately 7.2 minutes. 
The service ceiling with a normal load is 35,000 feet, and the range is 425 miles at normal cruising speed. On some models the engine is fitted with an air filter connected to the landing gear. The filter apparently operates only when the wheels are down. The metal propeller is three-bladed. There are apparently two fuel tanks, one in the fuselage below the pilot's seat, holding 71 U.S. gallons, and the other behind his head and shoulders with a capacity of 34 U.S. gallons. Both tanks are of standard light-alloy construction and are self-sealing, having five protective layers on the inside. However, a recent airplane is reported to have had three tanks, a main tank aft of the cockpit holding 111 U.S. gallons and an auxiliary tank of 25 U.S. gallons built into each wing next to the fuselage, each connected with the main tank. The standard armament consists of two synchronized 12.7-mm Breda machine guns mounted over the engine and firing through the propeller. There is provision for mounting two 7.7-mm guns in the wings outboard of the propeller arc, but none have been found actually installed. This aircraft is believed to be equipped to carry two 220-pound bombs. Eight-millimeter armor protection is used for the head, shoulders, and bucket seat, but no bulletproof windshields have been reported. 
This airplane has been almost entirely used for fighting and ground attack. It has operated extensively against Malta, and in the defense of the North African ports in the Libyan campaigns, and is now in action in Tunisia&quot;. Victor Sierra

MC.202 according the US Intelligence

COLOUR THIS IMAGE!!!

RSI soldiers waiting to enter in action. Front of the Gothic line. DVX

Waiting for action

Black shirts pass a catwalk. Appennino emiliano, 1944-45. DVX

Catwalk

RSI troops training with an 81mm mortar, probably 1944. DVX

Mortar in action

In the large mixture of aircraft wich reached the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force in the Sourthern Italy after the Armistice (September 8, 1943) were also some light aircraft employed for training and secondary purposes like this Saiman 202M (location unkown, surely an airport of Southern Italy, 1944/1945). The Saiman 202 was a two-seater, single engine produced by Saiman at Ostia, near Rome, and other industries until 1943. After the war the Saiman 202s again in flight conditions, about twenty, was gived by the new Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) to Italian aero club (I remember again some Saiman in years Sixty of XX Century like the planed of Aero Club di Roma). Victor Sierra

Light aircraft co-belligerent

Chocks removed (note on the left the man of ground crew), engines running, the Cant-Z-1007bis "Red Five" of a bombardment unit of Regia Aeronautica starting up the taxying for take off. Likely a Sicilian airport, 1941. Victor Sierra

Go away!

The mascotte of the Bronzo submarine crew. DVX

Mascotte

Submarine Acciaio immerging. In foreground the 102/47mm gun. The Acciao was sunk in july 1943, north of Messina, by an enemy submarine. No survivors. DVX

Fast immersion

Submarine Bronzo after an attempt of ramming by enemy ship. 1943. DVX

Ramming attempt

After the birth, September 23, 1943,  as consequence of Italian Armistice of September 8, 1943, of Repubblica Sociale Italiana, the Italian Fascist Republic established by Benito Mussolini, its Air Force, Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR) retrieved also a dozen Cant-Z-1007bis and ten Cant-Z-1007ter. The majority of them, in particular, the Ter, was allocated at Squadriglia Autonoma Bombardamento Terrestre “Ettore Muti” at Lonate Pozzolo Airport, near Varese, but never employed in operational missions. Victor Sierra

Alcione of RSI

One of more than twenty Cant-Z-1007 &quot;Alcione&quot; (Cant-Z-1007bis and ter) taken by German forces in airports of Northern Italy after the Italian Armistice of September 8, 1943. The airplane, a Cant-Z-1007bis, has the German marking but the code on fuselage, WL+23-67 isn't a code of an operational unit. Perhaps is an aircraft pending the delivery at Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, ANR, the Air Force of Italian Fascist Republic. Note, in background, a Fiat G.55 &quot;Centauro&quot; of ANR.  Photo taken in airport of Northern Italy, perhaps 1944. Victor Sierra

Alcione in German colours

The last version of &quot;Alcione&quot;: the Cant-Z-1007ter produced for Regia Aeronautica from the end of 1942 with three Piaggio P.XIX RC.45 radial engines each with 1180 hp power at altitude of 4700 meter, new dorsal turret Breda V with machine gun 12,7 mm and others improvements with marked progress in performances. The plane of this photo is a Cant-Z-1007ter of 240th Squadriglia, 98th Gruppo, based at Lecce, of 3rd Stormo Trasporto (3rd Transport Wing) of Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, 1944. The latter inherited some thirty Cant-Z-1007s, bis and ter, employed for missions of supply forces fighting in Balkans against the Germans by means underwing pods delivered in flight. In those missions the units of Cant-Z-1007 suffered heavy losses by the German fighters. The bad day was the 14 May 1944 over the Adriatic Sea: after delivered supplies to Jugoslav partisans, five of twelve Cant-Z-1007 taked off from Lecce-Galatina, were shoot down by about German Messerschmitt 109G. Victor Sierra

Last version of

The battleship Littorio aimed by the Allied bombers in the La Spezia harbor, june 1943. DVX

Under attack

In the photo the two versions, single-fin and double-fin, of the Cant-Z-1007bis "Alcione". Victor Sierra

Two versions of "Alcione"

Flag of the Savoia Cavalry regiment. The Savoia Cavalleria got the last victorious cavarly charge of the WW2 (and perhaps of the modern battles) in Isbuscenskij, Russia, august 1942. DVX

Savoia cavalleria

The first important operational engagement of Regia Aeronautica's Cant-Z-1007bis "Alcione" was the missions over the Balkan's theater during the italo-greek war. In this photo a Cant-Z-1007bis of 261st Squadriglia, 106th Gruppo, 47th stormo based in Puglia, at Grottaglie, bombing enemies targets in Balkans area. Victor Sierra

Cant-Z-1007bis bombing

italian sailor guarding a captured former Yugoslavian destroyer in the Cattaro naval base. Probably it's the Beograd or the Dubrovnik, respectively renamed under Italian flag Sebenico and Premuda. April 1941. DVX 

Sailor in Cattaro naval base

Another fine shot of Italian three-engine medium bomber CRDA (Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico) Cant-Z-1007bis &quot;Alcione&quot; in flight perhaps over Balkans in 1941, during the war of Italy againts Greece. This shot highlight some details of this aircraft by some described such as the best Italian bomber of WW2 although its wooden structure could be easily damaged by extreme climate conditions, like of North Africa and Russia. The plane of the photo is an aircraft of 210th Squadriglia, 50th Gruppo of 16th Stormo Bombardamento Terrestre wich, at Vicenza Airport, mid-1939, was one of the first Stormi re-equipped with the new bomber. During war againts the Greece the 16th Stormo was transferred in Southern Italy, on the airport of Brindisi, Puglia. Victor Sierra

Cant_Z_1007_first_series

The personal aircraft of Benito Mussolini was this Savoia-Marchetti SM.81, originally all white, camouflaged after the break of the war. This picture show the Duce's plane with the same Mussolini on board on departure for Belluno, Northeast Italy, for the meeting at Villa Gaggia of Feltre with Adolf Hitler (The Meeting of Feltre) July 19, 1943. While the talks are underway, arrive the news of first, heavy American bombardment of Rome. After few days, July 25, 1943, Mussolini was resigned and arrested on King Victor Emmanuel III's order. Victor Sierra

Mussolini's personal aircraft

Can anyone colour in this image of Mussolini, please! 

BENITO MUSSOLINI ! 

Can anyone colour this image of Mussolini ! ! ! 

BENITO MUSSOLINI 

In the Bari Airport, into Allies hands, 1944, the personnel of the US 57th Fighter Group discover a, for him, "rare bird" anyway immediately confiscated and dressed with the white american stars. The "rare bird", on the other hand never entered officially in the line of the 57th Fighter Group, is in fact a single engine reconnaissance and bomber aircraft Caproni Ca.111 employed extensively by Italian Air Force in 1937-1938 in the war against  Ethiopia. Atferward, now outdated, the Ca.111 was employed by Regia Aeronautica in secondary roles. Victor Sierra

Italian Forces

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