1º Gruppo Caccia activity - 19 Mar 44

[veltro]

Originally Posted by Don Caldwell

Do you know if the ANR ever penetrated Reich airspace at this stage of the war? Was there a policy against it? If there was, I would be ready to score both of the missions as o.F.B. and blame the draftsman.

Don,

certainly ANR fighters were requested to operate briefly even in Reich airspace, albeit for limited time and pre-arranged missions. There were a few missions also of 2° Gruppo Caccia (these in July 1944), so the reply is affirmative.

Bear also in mind that virtually every move of the ANR had to be authorized by the Luftwaffe even long before "Operation Phönix", so that Italian units were "asked" to do missions, not the contrary.

Thus it is fully acceptable that 1° Gr.C. fighters did fly beyond the border even on 19 March, because ordered to do so. The only certain thing is that no interception ensued. So I guess we have a poor draughtsman to blame...

P.S: Your explaination of the lack of reports on 18 March mission looks perfectly clear now. Yes, research is "fun", sometimes with the brackets on, however...

[Don Caldwell]

Thanks again, Ferdinando & Nick. I've concluded that 1º Gruppo Caccia did fly two missions on 19 Mar. The 2nd was o.F.B. The 1st may have resulted in Feindsichtung if not Feindberührung, but the evidence is clear that the unit claimed no victories and suffered no losses.

If any data to the contrary crop up, please let me know.

Horrido!

Don