325 Fg 22.07.43

[fireship]

Hi Folks,
Sergente Ferruccio Serafini of 378 Squadriglia /
150°Gruppo Autonomo was KIA during an
engagement with P-40s from the 325 FG,
although he succeeded in downing two of
his opponents prior to his demise.
What's the facts and when US P-40s
lost what' the US-Serials and where
the Pilots.

TIA
Fireship

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Two P-40 of 325 lost this day:

42-10475 MACR 446
42-10887 MACR 452

2nd Lt Hubert M Miller of 318th FS, 325th FG was killed this day and is buried in Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, at Nettuno.

The other pilot may have been Flt Off Mark P Broome, also of 318th FS, listed as MIA on the North African American Cemetery with an official death date of 23/07/44. Official death dates of American MIA are sometimes (not always) one year and one day after the date they went MIA.

[fireship]

Hi Laurent,
thanks for the info.
It seems that the story is true, and
Sergente Serafini shot down 2 US
P-40.

Regards
Fireship

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Check the other Italian claims. Lutwaffe known claims include no P-40 but AA may also have shot them down.

[Gianandrea Bussi]

Sergente Serafini served in 378a Squadriglia of 155° Gruppo C.T. (not 150°):
this unit, in 1943 (and 1942) wasn't autonimous but was part, with 20° Gruppo, of 51° Stormo C.T.

In the morning of 22 july 1943, 12 C.205 of the 155° and six C.205 and three C.202 of the 20° Gruppo, took off from their Sardinian bases (Monserrato and Capoterra) in order to intercept 48 P-40 of the 325th FG: the american aircraft were tasked to strafe targets in the south Sardinia.

In the combats that followed, 155° Gruppo pilots claimed eigth P-40 shot down; other two were claimed by 20° Gruppo.

American fighters claimed 12 C.202 and one Bf.109.

155° lost Serg. Serafini and his Veltro; two other C.205 were slightly damaged. 20° Gruppo lost two aircraft and two pilots: another pilot was wounded and his plane badly damaged; another 20° Gruppo fighter was damaged.
One of the 325th pilot shot down a multi engined aircraft, identified as Ju.52: it was, in fact, an italian Ca.309 that crashed and burned, killing his pilot.

325th FG lost two aircraft with their pilots.

As far as I know, german fighter of the III./JG 77 (based at that time at Chilivani, in the center of Sardinia) didn't took part to this air battle.

I had the chance to interview one of the surviving italian pilots that took part to these combats, and his memories was very useful in order to describe it when I wrote the book "Pantere", the history of 155° Gruppo 1941-2001.

[Ludovico Slongo]

That of 22 July 1943 over the general area of Monserrato in Sardinia, was a confused dogfight between Italian Macchis of the two Gruppi of 51° Stormo and 325th FG Warhawks. Gianandrea Bussi together with Edoardo Raucci masterfully described it in “Pantere la storia del 155° Gruppo …” perhaps the best Italian W.W.II air unit History ever written. (Dear Mr. Bussi, hope to see other books of this quality in the near future). It seems that no Luftwaffe units were present during this specific combat or at least no Luftwaffe pilot claimed victories. The Italian pilots came off second best and claimed heavily during this confused low altitude melee, but also the American pilots overclaimed somewhat.

155°’s pilots claimed eight confirmed and four probables P40s with fifteen more claimed as damaged, while 20°’s pilots claimed two more Warhawks confirmed and nine damaged. In return they lost the Macchis of Sergente Ferruccio Serafini (an ace of 378a Squadriglia of 155° Gruppo), Capitano Paolo Damiani (CO of 352a Squadriglia 20° Gruppo) and Sottotenente Redento Borbotti (another pilot of 20° Gruppo) with the loss of the pilots. One more Macchi was heavily damaged (Maresciallo Alessandro Sicco wounded) and three were damaged less seriously. To complete this black day a liaison Caproni was shot down by the Warhawks (that misidentified it for a Junkers 52) while landing at Casa Zeppera, with the loss of Maresciallo Virgilio Pongiluppi of 351a Squadriglia and three airmen: Pietro Cervasi, Giovannino Battisti and Giovanni Corvascio.

Italian claimers where:

Tenente Giovanni Franchini (351a CO): 1P40

Maresciallo Remo Zedda (360a): 1P40

Maresciallo Pasquale Bartolucci (360a): 1P40

Maresciallo Roberto Gaucci (378a): 1P40

Sergente Maggiore Gastone Fattoretto (360a) : 1P40

Tenente Giovanni Ambrosio (378a) and Sottotenente Pier Paolo Paravicini (360a): 1P40 shared

Sergente Ferruccio Serafini (378a) : 2P40s.

Serafini was reputed to have rammed his second opponent because remained without ammunitions and received for this reason a posthumous “medaglia d’oro al valor militare” (Italy’s highest bravery award). Damiani, a brave and highly respected leader received the same posthumous award.

The “Chekertail ‘s clan” pilots claimed twelve Macchis, one BF 109 , two Fi 156s and two Ju 52s, for a total of seventeen victories (two of them by Major Bob Baseler).

Not it’ll be interesting to know the names of the other American pilots claiming, the exact number of their formation, the names of the 20° Gruppo’s pilots claiming and if the 325th suffered other damages apart from the two P40s that failed to return with their pilots. Hope someone can help.

Ludovico.

[Frank Olynyk]

Is the book Pantere la storia del 155° Gruppo still available? Any suggestions on how to obtain a copy?

Frank.

[Ludovico Slongo]

As far as I know you can still buy copy of it in the U.S. by "Pacific Coast Models" (57.55 $ +P&P). By the editor:GAE Giorgio apostolo Editore it is already sold out.The book, however is in Italian with English summary.
Ludovico.

[Alex Smart]

Hi,

The following is from "Checkertail Clan" by McDowell & Hess.

"On the 20th July, the Checkertail P-40's roared in on the deck and found five Me 109s and three Ju52s at the air depot along with about 10 trucks. All received their share of attantion from the strafing party. A little way beyond, the pilots surprised about 300 soldiers out in the open ans worked them over, too. Twelve enraged Luftwaffe pilots then appeared and tore into the 48 Warhawks. They shot dpwn F/O. George H. Dickas but paid dearly for their lone victory. Capt. Zack Taylor scored the Group's first triple kill when he knocked down two Macchi MC 202's and a 109, also upping his victory total to six and becoming the Group's first ace. Capt. Warden and F/O. Jones bagged 109s, while Lt. George Novotny and Lt. Henry Brundydge got 202s.

The tempo of operations was increased the following day as the Checkertails destroyed 17 against a loss of only two. F/O. Boone and Lt. Miller were lost when they were shot down by 109s. However, Macchi 202s were the prime targets on this mission as 12 were knocked out of the sky. Major Baseler , F/O. Arch McKeithen and Lt. Gerkin each got two. Capt. Howe , F/O Al Moon, F/O. Ebert Smith , Lt. Copsey , F/O. John Gonda and F/O. Prevatt picked off single 202s . Capt. Howe also shot down a 109 to give him a double, and F/O's Moon and Smith both joined him by adding , oddly enough, an Fi 156 apiece. A Ju 52, credited to the Group , was also shot down. And the scoring was closed out by F/O. Slattery who later found a lone Ju 52 and blasted it out of the blue to bring the days slaughter to an end . Before tangling with the enemy aircraft , the 325th had shot up gun emplacements, buildings, a rail station , cars, 50 trucks in a convoy 2 small sailboats and one Ju 52 on the ground..
Two days later the Group lost F/O. John F. Rauth. His Warhawk was hit by small arms fire and he crashed into the sea. The date was 23 July."

The dates differ from that given in earlier mail.

The 23rd was a Friday (Rauth captured). So the 20th was Tuesday ( Dickas)and the next day 21st a Wednesday ( Boone and Miller)

MACR 450 for the 20/7/43
MACR 452 for the 22/7/43
MACR 446 for the 22/7/43
No MACR for the 23/7/43
,
MACR 525 for the 28th ? is this an error for the 23rd ?

Taylor flew "13","Duchess of Durham", Novotny flew "27". Rauth was rescued by Italian fishermen (six) including a young boy who wanted to surender himself to Italian troops on the shore to give Rauth a chance to escape but Rauth gave himself up to save the boy from the troops.

This makes the loss of Boone and Miller the 21st .

Just thought it would add something to the thread.

night

Alex

[Frank Olynyk]

Ludovico,

I ordered the book from Pacific Coast Models, but just now received an email that the book was out of stock and no longer available. Any other suggestions?

Frank.