Allied pilots against Regia Aeronautica

Bad news: I contacted the 485 NZ squadron and unfortunately the Group Captain Wells is currently in very bad health, in a nursing home in England, and can’t release any interview. But there are also good news: a french historian and air anthusiast has a lot of datas and informations about the french pilots who fought against the Regia Aeronautica at the beginning of WW2. I will let you know any further advance in my research!
Dear friends, have you more suggestions?

Dave, your hint is great! I think that talking with the first pilot who met Italian Cr42s in the BoB would be very important. I already sent an email to the Sqn Association, I hope they will answer soon!
Thanks again,
Renato

Ciao Linzee, thank you for the suggestion. The forum you told me seems interesting, I wil try to post a message and I’ll let you know!
Ciao,
Renato

Group Captain Edward Wells, known as Bill, is still alive.

He was the first RAF pilot to encounter Italian fighters (CR42s) during the Battle of Britain.

You might try to contact him via the 485 (NZ) Squadron Association, he may be interested in helping. The association may be able to put you onto others who flew against your Air Force too because many Kiwi pilots went to the Mediterranean theatre of war.

There is a link to the Association on this page

http://www.rafweb.org/Sqn485-490.htm

Ciao Renato,

My friend, Gian, in Italia (he has a web site about Ghedi aerodromehttp://it.geocities.com/gspagno/main.html) suggests that a good website about Italy at war can be found here www.comandosupremo.com which also has a discussion forum that may be helpful to you.

Good luck
Linzee

Renato,

My I suggest that you also contact the USAF research’s at Maxwell AFB to get the USAAF side. Also you might want to go over to Warbird Resource Groups forume page and put up your request they have a lot of USAAF Vets and alot of us Yanks.

Great Project, Good luck.

Cheers

Hello again, Allan!
Of course I will keep you informed. I will try also to contact the Imperial War Museum in London, they have a huge archive of tapes where the veterans recorded their experiences. Allan, do you remember where do you read the account you told me?
Thanks!

Renato

Hello, Allan! I just found the “Courage Alone” book, but on the website you recommended there are many more interesting books; the ones related to Malta, for example, probably contain many interesting accounts. I will look carefully! Thank you again!

Hello, Ian! I was incredibly lucky. I just found in an italian bookshop, that sells only aviation books, a copy (the last one!) of “Courage Alone” in the italian translation (“Solo Coraggio”), for the original price of 33 Euros, that is, more or less 40 US$! This is very good, because I need the book but I could hardly afford an expense of 230 Euros for a book!
Ian, do you know any WWII veteran pilot who fought against the Regia Aeronautica? Thank you again!

A quick search on abebooks.co.uk reveals that there is only one copy of Courage Alone: The Italian Air Force 1940-1943 for sale, from a bookshop in Pheonix, Arizona. Unfortunately, it is for sale at a price of $275, or £154.01, or €230.81! I don’t know how desperate you are for a copy of the book, but I suspect this is more than anyone is likely to pay for it.

Hello, Steve! Thank you for your help! Do you think it is possible to find a copy of this book? Or is it out of print?
Thank you again!

Courage Alone.

Renato
There was an excellent book called Courage Alone published on the Regia Aeronautica about four years ago.
I can’t remember the author but the publisher was Hikoki Books here in the UK.
Well worth owning if your interests are in that field.
I suspect it’s out of print now as I recently E-bayed my copy and I was astounded at what it sold at.
Might be worth trying Amazon Z-shops or ABE-Books.
All the best
Andy.
Private message me please. My Dad’s a Vet from the Italian theatre.
I’d like to chat. 🙂 🙂

Thank you!!

Dear friends,
thanks to all of you for your help! Do you know if there are still some veterans alive who would like to share their experiences?
In fact, here in Italy it is quite difficult to develop researches about WWII. It seems incredible, but 60 years after the end of the war there is always someone telling you’re a fascist or asking why are you trying to write about something that happened “a long time ago, in bad times”. Also our veterans are very little respected…
With this research project I would like to enhance how the men were first of all opponents, not only enemies, and the respect for the other was usual. And in the sky, the pilots were almost always like knights with sense of honor.
Again, thanks to all of you, I wait for more suggestions… and if I can help you from Italy, just email me!

Renato,

First of all, welcome! And don’t worry about your English, it’s probably far better than mine. 😉

As far as your question goes, I have at home a copy of ‘Fly For Your Life’, the biography of Robert Stanford Tuck. There’s a passage in there which recounts 257 Squadron’s encounter with the Fiat CR42’s over Essex in November 1940. If I get a spare moment tonight I’ll type it out for you.

Regards,

Steve

I don’t know if this would help you:

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S0781~ser=ACE~per=2

From what I know, Italian pilots were very highly respected. 🙂

Also I must compliment you on you’re English, there is not much wrong with it, you make yourself understood beautifully.

Phil