Two SM.79s shot down 22-5-1943

[Brian Bines]

On the 22-5-43 F/O P.G.R Williamson with Sgt D.S Lake in Beaufighter V8494 of 153 Sqd. shot 2 SM79s Down into the sea. Seeing a light from one crash location they circled till dawn and saw a crewman clinging to a piece of the tail. Sgt. Lake dropped the man a dinghy which landed close but the crewman made no attempt to reach it . Later Williamson found out the man had two broken legs so could not make it to the dingy, and that he was doing well in hospital having been picked up by a patrol boat that Williamson had called for . Is the identity of the Italian airman and his crew known,

Thanks
Brian Bines

[Col Bruggy]

Hello,

The concern of 1384023/(107239) F/O Peter Greville Kaye WILLIAMSON* RAFVR (later DFC*) for his opponent, is understandable. Just 4 months earlier He had cause to bale out of No.153 Sqn Beaufighter VIF (V8575), into the sea, spending 5 hours in the water with his navigator (Sgt D S Lake), before being rescued.

*
An Australian (from Adelaide, S.A.), in the RAF.

Col.

[Tom Semenza]

Col., as an aside, Williamson and Lake, bailed out of V8575 per Med. Air War, Vol.3 and Air-Britain RAF Aircraft V1000 to V9999.

Sorry, Brian, no info on the SM.79 crews. Med. Air War, Vol.3 ends mid-May 43.

Regards,
Tom

[Brian Bines]

Col. Thanks for that, I have now looked it up in the ORB which said they had to bale out at 2030hrs on 20-1-43 after being airborne for 2hrs.40 mins. due to engine trouble . They were picked up 5 hrs later by French fishing vessels and taken to Port Guy????
Sgt. Dennis Strickland Lake DFM was KIFA as a F/L on 17-2-1945 in Mosquito MM550 of NFDU RAF along with his pilot W/C William Hudson Maguire.
Another site says the P.108 he shot down on 13-1-42 was flown by an Italian bomber ace which points toward MM.22004 flown by Cap. Giovanni Battista Semprini

Regards
Brian Bines

Thanks Tom I think info. on the SM.79 crews may be a bit difficult unless there is an ADIK report for the prisoner of war.

[Russell]

Brian

At an early stage in compiling MAW 4, we have one loss for the night of Williamson's claim.

228ª Sq, 89° Gr AS S.79 MM 24505 left Milis 0300, shot down; Cap Francesco Bargagna, Serg Mario Mancini and crew MiA.

Anyone who comes across any more we would love to know.

Regards

Russell

[Col Bruggy]

Originally Posted by Tom Semenza

Col., as an aside, Williamson and Lake, bailed out of V8575 per Med. Air War, Vol.3 and Air-Britain RAF Aircraft V1000 to V9999.

Sorry, Brian, no info on the SM.79 crews. Med. Air War, Vol.3 ends mid-May 43.

Regards,
Tom

Thanks Tom,

Misread my notes. Have corrected my previous post.

Col.

[Brian Bines]

Russell , thanks very much for the info.I have not been able to trace any more on line for the Bargagna crew , there is a couple of photos. of him in a Carlo Unia booklet. Williamson's t/up 0435hrs t/down 0720hrs would tie up that the MM.24505 is likely to be one of his claims,

Regards
Brian Bines

[Laurent Rizzotti]

According to the online database of Italian KIA and MIA (http://www.difesa.it/Il_Ministro/ONO...istrativo.aspx), there was only one Francesco Bargagna lost during the war and he is listed on 23 May 1943.

There are five Mario Mancini (seven replies but two duplicates) and one was also on 23 May 1943.

So it seems your survivor is not one of them.

Sadly you can only search with names, not by date. Unit is not given, only the death place and burial place. In both cases above, it is "unknown", normal for MIA people.

From Russel reply, it was a night or dawn action (with a take off time at 0300 hrs). Brian gives the date of 22 May 1943, does that mean the night of 22 to 23 May 1943 (and so the early hours of the 23rd) ?

[Gianandrea Bussi]

According to the Diario del Comando Aeronautica Sardegna, four S.79 (out of seven belonging to 89° Gruppo, 205a Squadriglia and 132° Gruppo) went missing in the early hour of 23 may 1943 (t/o time between 2.45 and 3.05; mission: offensive reconnaissance near the North Africa coasts).

Mario Mancini, part of the crew lead by Cap. Bargagna, was Tenente (not Sergente). Both posted missing on 23 may.

No losses recorded on 22 may by the Comando Aeronautica Sardegna (all three S.79 from 89° Gruppo came back to Sardinia).

No other infos available from the books/documents I've got at hands.

Gianandrea

[Brian Bines]

From the ORB both the record of events and summary of events appear to show morning of the 22nd with t/up 0435 t/down 0720 hrs . However another site quoting Aces High 2nd edition by Chris Shores gives the date for Williamsons 2 SM.79 victories as 22/23rd May, he previously shot down a P.108 and 2 Ju 88s in January 43 to give him his total score of 5 in N.Africa. If no SM.79s were lost on the morning of the 22nd and the rescued survivor was from a SM 79 perhaps the ORB in in error ? It would only need the date of the 23rd to move up one line to put Williamson on the 23rd. Unfortunately I cannot get to the PRO to look for a combat report or 'K' report to clarify things at present.