1º Gruppo Caccia activity - 19 Mar 44

[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

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Don Caldwell

Thanks, Nick. These messages refer to the raid on 18 March, which was restricted to Italy & stayed out of the Greater German Reich, my area of interest at present. I assume you found no messages referring to the 19th.

Don

If they were there, then I missed them. Anything ANR-related does get my attention though (a side-effect of knowing Ferdinando for 21 years!) so I would have taken a copy if I'd seen it.

[Håkan]

Hello everybody,

I've been following this tread with great interest. Ferdinando's info is somewhat new to me and thus I need to update my own list accordingly. Therefore, I have a couple of questions.
The pilot which baled out on 18 March, was it Sergente Maggiore Luigi Gorrini?
According to Tony Wood's claim lists on 18 March, the Italian fighters claimed:

09.30 Mario Benati, 3./JGr. Italien P-38 15 km. S. Porto Bareloghe 700-800 m. Film C. 2025/I Anerk: Nr.1
09.30 Andrea Stella, 1./JGr. Italien P-38 15 km. S. Porto-Barslaghe Refer: Visconti/Arena f. 337
09.30 Guiseppe Marconcini, 1./JGr. Italien P-38 15 km. S. Porto-Barslaghe Refer: Visconti/Arena f. 337
09.30 Guiseppe Robetto, 1./JGr. Italien P-38 N.E. Lubiana Refer: Visconti/Arena f. 337
09.30 Diego Rodoz, 3./JGr. Italien P-38 N.E. Lubiana Refer: Visconti/Arena f. 337
09.30 Pietro Svanini, 3./JGr. Italien P-38 N.E. Lubiana Refer: Visconti/Arena f. 337

Stella and Benati's claims are verified by Ferdinando
Robetto, Rodoz and Svanini are also verified by Ferdinando but as bombers (B-24?), who also has a shared bomber by Morosi.
Marconcini didn't claim anything.
JG 53 and 77 claimed 3 P-47s, 1 P-38 and 17 B-17s
US Fighters seems to have claimed 18/3/5 according to Olynyk. The Ju52 in Nick's document seem to have been claimed by 1/Lt Thomas F. Rafael, 27th FS, at 09:40 at Treviso A/D.

Is this correct?

Also according to Tony's list Squadriglia Autonoma Montefusco made a couple of claims on 19 March:

Giovanni Bonet, JGr. Bonet ½ B-17 6.000 m. Reference: Arena re. Guest
Biagini, JGr. Bonet ½ B-17 6.000 m. Reference: Arena re. Guest
Guiseppe Biron, JGr. Bonet B-17 6.000 m. Reference: Arena re. Guest
Tommaso Jellici, JGr. Bonet B-17 6.000 m. Reference: Arena re. Guest

Are these claims still valid?

Best wishes/Håkan

[veltro]

Håkan,
the source of such claims in Tony Wood's list are a couple books of an author whose info have been verified through the years to be at least incorrect in many istances, particularly about attributing claims.

The names and info I supplied are coming directly from an original wartime document typed ans signed by the "Ufficio Voli" of 1° Gruppo and listing all the claims of the unit attributed to individual pilots from 3 January to 2 May 1944. Here is the scan of the relevant part...



That out of the seven claims reported by the document for the combat(s) of 18 March, only one was confirmed by the Germans, can be surprising, but for instance the reverse happened on 28 March, when all the nine claims of the Italians were confirmed by the Germans. (This of course doesn't mean that such claims were verified and confirmed, this being a completely different story, as many of us certainly know...)

Also, the Tony Wood's list reports all the claims as taking place at 09.30, which is entirely incorrect, as there were two different combats in completely different areas (Porto Baseleghe and Lubiana are more than 125 kms from each other) and in different timings.

Concerning the claims of Sq. Montefusco I think you should refer to the book of Giancarlo Garello "Centauri su Torino", who did a fantastic work in researching all the claims of the unit.

Hope it helps.

[Håkan]

Gracie Ferdinando,

As usual you are most helpful to my questions.
Thanks for clearing this out.

Best wishes/Håkan