Italians in Etiopia

[Modly]

What type of bombers have Italians used in Etiopia during Iperit bomber campain against etiopians tribes ?

[Gielle]

Maybe someone else could help you with more infos, but, as far as I know, the Italian bomber standart type during the Ethyopia war was the Caproni Ca. 133, a three engines, high wing, fixed landing gear, with a max bomb payload of 300 kg inside and 500 kg outside.

[STORMO!]

Also used in some numbers were the SIAI-Marchetti SM.81 Pipistrello (Bat). They were painted with long red stripes to help identify aircraft that went down for whatever reason.

Vince

[Modly]

Was Ca. 101 in action too?

[STORMO!]

Yes the Ca.101 saw extensive service in Italy's conquests in Africa, particularly with the La Disperata squadron during the Ethopian campaign and some remained in use during WWII.

[veltro]

If I may, I would add to the types already indicated the Caproni Ca.111.

Other aircraft used in the campaign with a bombing role were also the Romeo Ro.1 and the IMAM Ro.37/Ro.37bis.

[Modeldad]

A beautiful, but out of print, book on the Itailan AF in Etheopia, Eritria, Somalia, etc is ALI ITALIANE IN AFRICA ORIENTALE 1935-1940, by Carlo Lucchini, published by AES Albertelli Edizione Speciale / Storia Militare, 1997.

An increadable collection of beautiful pictures.



Ferdinando: Any hint when we can expect your book, I'm looking forward to it. BTW, did you happen to catch my trouble making piece on RA camou at HyperScale?

[Gianandrea Bussi]

According to the lists of chemical attacks published in the book "Guerra Aerea sull'Etiopia 1935-1939" ("Air War over Ethiopia"), by Roberto Gentilli - the most comprehensive book about that war - all types of bomber operated in this theatre were involved in dropping chemical bombs: S.81 (9° Stormo only), Ca.101, Ca.111 and Ca.133.
The most employed bomb was the model C500T, charged with hyprite.

Gianandrea Bussi