Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum

Dear Brian,

it’s nice to have the opportunity of giving some pieces of info you may find interesting.
It seems that there were no aerial claims by Italian pilots during the Abyssinian Campaign of 1935-36 but that some planes of the Abyssinian air force were indeed claimed on ground.
First plane lost to the Italians was at the very beginning of the campaign (on 22 October 1935) and it seems that it was one of the two home-built monoplanes designed by Von Nes, -the other christened Ethiopia I was later captured at Addis Abeba by Italian troops and is actually preserved in the Italian air force Museum at Vigna di Valle. According with Ethiopian bulletin the plane was destroyed by air attack while going from Berbera to Giggiga in a land convoy but it was not claimed by the Italians so the unit responsible for this ground victory remains unknown
Then came a Potez PO 25 TOE captured on ground by advancing Italian troops at Macallè airstrip on 8 November 1935.
On 6 December 1935 fourteen Caproni CA 111 of 28° Gruppo B.T. and four Caproni CA 101E of Squadriglia Stato Maggiore bombed Dessiè claiming two planes destroyed on ground on the local airstrip.
On 9 February 1936, Caproni CA 133 of 7a Squadriglia 44° Gruppo BT bombed again Dessiè claiming a plane destroyed on ground but in fact they had only managed to damage the Fokker F VIIa “Abba Kagnew”.
On 17 March 1936 Caproni CA 133 of 44° Gruppo BT and IMAM Ro 37 of 103a Squadriglia RS (this latter unit commanded by future fighter ace Capitano Eugenio Leotta) strafed two Ethiopian planes on the area between Quoram and Beles. They claimed one destroyed and one damaged, the destroyed being assigned to Caproni pilot Capitano Vincenzi (CO of 6a Squadriglia 44° Gruppo), in fact they had managed to destroy the two Fokker FVIIa “Abba Dagnew” and “Abba Kagnew”.
On 19 March 1936 IMAM RO1 of 118a Squadriglia RT (CO Capitano Manlio Maravigna) and IMAM RO 37 of 109a Squadriglia RS (CO future fighter leader Capitano Carlo Calosso) attacked Dabat airstrip claiming a Potez Po 25 on ground, two days after 118a was back on the target claiming on ground a “high wing Fokker with retractable wings” this time Ethiopian records admitted the loss of a Potez 25 (perhaps a mix-up of dates with the claim of the 19th).
The most important –and final – action between opposing planes came on 4 April 1936. There was an air courier service between Dessie and Adis Abeba and the Italian air force tried to intercept it to gain at least an aerial victory. The best Italian plane in theatre was the reconnaissance/close support IMAM Ro 37 (the only fighters in East Africa being the old Fiat CR 20bis of 107a Squadriglia CT) so the mission was assigned to five IMAMs of 105a Squadriglia RS led by skilled and aggressive future 3° Stormo’s fighter leader Capitano Tito Falconi (among his wingmen there was possibly also future fighter ace Tenente Giorgio Tugnoli). The Potez 25 “2 Nesre Asfauossen” was intercepted and pursued to Addis Abeba airfield where it was able to land but then the RO 37 came down strafing and destroyed it on ground together with the Beechcraft B 17L NC 14405 and a Farman 192. Ethiopian AA fire was extremely effective and some explosive bullets penetrate the cockpit of Falconi’s plane wounding him in the face and hitting his gunner –Sergente Homer Di Cristo- in the leg. Falconi was able to bring his plane 500 km back to base but the leg of Di Cristo had to be amputated. A final note regarding attacks on Red Cross. It seems that they were –sadly- quite common (in particular a telling attack on the British Red Cross mission on 3 March 1936 at Almotà caused many casualties) but it seems that every time the Italians attacked, they were really convinced that the Red Cross marked trucks and huts -in fact- hid ammunitions or weapons. Regarding attacks on Red Crossed planes they probably didn’t materialized. It is in fact known that in June 1936 the last Fokker (coded PH-EHE) piloted by Swedish volunteer Carl Gustav Von Rosen still operated from Gore and its activity was discovered by radio interceptions. The Minister of the Colonies Lessona -perfectly aware that the plane was a Red Cross’s one- then asked Marshal Rodolfo Graziani (COC of the theatre) about the eventuality of ambushing this plane near Gore, but once for a time the bloody Graziani acted chivalrously asking Lessona if it was really necessary at that stage of the war to do this and finally order came from Rome not to shot down the plane (that in fact came back to Holland at the end of the summer).
Hope You find this interesting, all the infos were extracted by the book “Guerra Aerea sull’Etiopia 1935-1939” by Roberto Gentilli (one of the best Italian historians and a specialist of the inter-war period) published by EDAI in 1992 probably still possible to find in the used books market.

Regards
Ludovico.