Italian Air Power in View (2025-09-01)

Italian bombers on their way to war action on the Albanian-Greek frontier, on January 9, 1941. Italian armies had launched an invasion of Greece from Albanian territory on October 28, 1940.

Italian Fiat G.50 and German Messerschmitt Me 110 (3U+CS) of Zerstörergeschwader 26 (ZG 26) in flight, North Africa, 1941. (Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-425-0338-16A)

Fiat CR.42 Falco 9° Gruppo 4° Stormo Regia Aeronautica. The Fiat CR.42 Falco (Falcon, plural: Falchi) is a single-seat sesquiplane fighter developed and produced by Italian aircraft manufacturer Fiat Aviazione. It served primarily in the Italian Regia Aeronautica in the 1930s and during the Second World War.

Fiat CR.42 4° Stormo Regia Aeronautica, left behind after the Axis retreat in North Africa.

Fiat CR.42s, Corpo Aero Italiano, Belgium, during the Battle of Britain.

Fiat CR.42.

Fiat CR.42.

Fiat CR.42.

Fiat CR.42 Falcos.

Fiat CR.42.

Fiat CR.42 of 162 Squadriglia.

Fiat CR.42.

Fiat CR.42 floatplane.

Fiat CR.42 tested with Daimler-Benz 601E engine.

Fiat CR.32 Regia Aeronautica circa 1939.

Fiat CR.32 undergoing repair by RAAF airmen, North Africa. 1940-41.

Fiat CR.32  Regia Aeronautica.

Fiat CR.32ter  Regia Aeronautica.

Fiat CR.32bis  Regia Aeronautica.

Fiat CR.32  Regia Aeronautica.

Capt. Mario D'Agostini, Gold Medal of Valor, poses with his Fiat CR.32 of the 163rd Autonomous Land Fighters Squadron, Gadurrà, Rhodos Greece, circa 1940.

RAAF officers in front of an Italian CR.32 fighter plane at Benghazi, Libya, early 1941. From left: Thomas Hamilton Trimble (later Squadron Leader 2 Operational Training Unit). Alan Charles Rawlinson (later Wing Commander, DFC, 78 Wing Headquarters). Flight Lieutenant Lindsay Eric Shaw Knowles, (later No. 3 Squadron), killed during operations on 22 November 1941, aged 24. Peter St George Bruce Turnbull (later DFC, Squadron Leader, 76 Squadron). Duncan Campbell (later Squadron Leader, No. 3 Squadron) killed during operations on 5 April 1941, aged 26.

A pair of Fiat CR.32 of the X Gruppo "Baleari". The foreground aircraft is flown by D'Agostini, circa 1937.

Unit members posing with a Fiat CR.32. In the background is a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka supplied to the Regia Aeronautica.

Fiat CR.32.

Fiat CR.30 Regia Aeronautica. The Fiat CR.30 was a 1930s Italian single-seat biplane fighter aircraft designed by Celestino Rosatelli and built by Fiat.

Fiat CR.30 Regia Aeronautica.

 

German Air Power in View (2025-09-01)

Dornier Do 335A-12 Pfeil, WkNr 240112, Luftwaffe, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, circa 22 April 1945 to 31 May 1945. One of two Do 335A-12 trainers completed by Dornier. The two-seat Pfeil was nicknamed Ameisenbär (anteater). Photo most probably taken at Oberpaffenhofen where this aircraft was captured by U.S. forces. Assigned to the British as AM223, it crashed into a school near Farnborough on 18 January 1946. The RAE pilot lost his life but no one on the ground was seriously hurt.

Dornier Do 335A.

A Dornier Do 217 bomber on an airfield in Finland with reindeer in the foreground, 26 July 1941.

Dornier Do 215B-3, PK-EM, Luftwaffe, circa 1939-40. The Do 215 reconnaissance bomber was an export variant of the Do 17. Batches ordered by Sweden, Yugoslavia and the Netherlands were taken by the Luftwaffe instead, but this is one of two Do 215B-3 aircraft that were delivered to the Soviet Union early in 1940.

Troops disembarking from the Dornier Do 26 V1 in Norway. This aircraft, named Seeadler (sea eagle) had served as a transatlantic mail plane for Lufthansa in 1939. It was destroyed in the Rombaksfjord along with the V2 on 28 May 1940.

The Dornier Do 24 V1 has made it into the war-torn port of Narvik after an adventurous flight. The crew had asked a shepherd for directions.

Dornier Do 24T-2, WkNr 0030, "Wilhelm Arndt", CH+EV, Luftwaffe, Mersa Matruh harbor, Egypt, circa 10 November 1942 to 20 November 1942. The Do 24 entered Luftwaffe service as an expensive rescue asset - the equivalent of today's heavy combat SAR helicopter. As such it saw action all around Europe. Built on the Dutch Do 24 production line, CH+EV was delivered to Seenotstaffel 7 in Athens in December 1941. It was damaged by Allied naval gunfire in this small Egyptian port on 12 August 1942, and declared a Totalverlust (total loss) on 28 August. The Allies retook Mersa Matruh during the Second Battle of El Alamein early in November.

Dornier Do 17Z-1.

Blohm & Voss Bv 40 V1 (PN+UA). The Bv 40 single-seat glider interceptor was a radical idea for intercepting USAAF heavy bomber formations operating by daylight. Battle experience had indicated that the frontal area of an FW 190's radial engine provided a target which could be hit by an average gunner at a range of more than a thousand yards. This frontal area could only be reduced drastically by eliminating the engine, and the glider interceptor, a small heavily armed and armored glider manufactured largely from non-strategic materials and towed to attack altitude by an orthodox fighter, provided such a small target in a head-on attack that it would be virtually invisible to the bomber's gunners before it had actually opened fire with its two 30 mm MK 108 cannon. Nineteen prototypes (V1 to V19) and 200 production Bv 40s were ordered, and the Bv 40 V1 made its first flight at the end of May 1944 towed behind a Bf 110. After modifications, a second flight test was made on June 2, 1944 at Wenzendorf airfield, but the pilot lost control and the prototype crashed. The second prototype, the Bv 40 V2, flew on June 5th, the third prototype was tested to destruction, and four additional prototypes had been flown when the program was abandoned in the autumn of 1944.

Bayerische Flugzeug Werke Bf 162 V2 Jaguar (D-AOBE, 818).

Messerschmitt Bf 110E 'Zerstorer' of ZG1 'Wespe' (wasp).

Messerschmitt Bf 110 wearing the distinctive "shark mouth" markings of Zerstörergeschwader 76.

Messerschmitt Bf 110E Zerstörer after returning from a combat flight in 1940.

Messerschmitt Bf 109F-2, Stab/JG51 Geschwaderkommodore Oberstleutnant Werner Moelders in Russia, June 1941. Werner Mölders (18 March 1913 – 22 November 1941) was a World War II German Luftwaffe pilot, wing commander, and the leading German fighter ace in the Spanish Civil War. He became the first pilot in aviation history to shoot down 100 enemy aircraft and was highly decorated for his achievements. Mölders developed fighter tactics that led to the finger-four formation. He died in a plane crash as a passenger.

Dummy wooden Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter constructed by the Luftwaffenbautruppen as a decoy. Two real Messerschmitts are visible in the background.

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10, 2.NAG14, 12+5F, WNr 770269, Furth, Germany, May 1945.

Beneš Mráz BE-252 (OK-OYA). Still in its Czechoslovakian markings, but with a Swastika on the tail. The BE-252 was used in small numbers by the German Luftwaffe as a trainer.

Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu tactical reconnaissance aircraft. The Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu (Owl) is a German twin-engine, twin-boom, three-seat tactical reconnaissance and army cooperation aircraft. It first flew in 1938 (Fw 189 V1), entered service in 1940 and was produced until mid-1944.

Focke-Wulf Fw 57 V1. The Focke-Wulf Fw 57 was a prototype German fighter-bomber. Prototypes were built in 1936 but never entered production.

Halle Fh 104 V1 Hallore (D-IQPG). The Siebel Fh 104 Hallore was a small German twin-engined transport, communications and liaison aircraft built by Siebel.

Siebel Fh 104 "Hallore" with registration code D-IQPG, built in Halle, Germany in the 1930s.

Siebel Fh 104 cockpit.

Focke-Achgelis Fa 225.

One of the two Curtiss Hawk Type IIs Ernst Udet had shipped to Germany. Note the Olympic rings beneath the cockpit on the fuselage side.

A 1938 photo of the Do 24 V1 as used in the Narvik airlift, showing the Jumo diesel engines insisted on by the Reich Air Ministry. Although the Netherlands Navy raved about it, the Do 24 was not initially accepted for German use. After the capture of the Dutch license production line the Luftwaffe adopted the type as a rescue aircraft.

Daimler Benz DB 613 C-1, 4,000 hp 24-cylinder coupled engine. Construction as DB 606 and DB 610; comprising two DB 603E/Gs.

Blohm & Voss BV 155 V2.

Three Messerschmitt Bf 110s towing a Messerschmitt Me 321.

Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7 Jagdgeschwader 27 being used in support of the Afrika Korps.

Ground operations around a Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7 of the Luftwaffe’s Jagdgeschwader 27 (JG27) possibly during its brief operational spell in Gela, Sicily between the 3rd and 24th of May 1941. During its stay in Sicily, III./JG27 operated over Malta.

Bf 109 with Soviet Yak 9s in the background.

Messerschmitt Bf 108.

1. Staffel I. Gruppe Aufklärungsgruppe 121 - 1.(F)/121. Aufklärungsgruppe 121 (121st Reconnaissance Group) was a German Air Force air reconnaissance group that participated in the Axis-led invasion of Yugoslavia during World War II. The group consisted of four Staffeln (squadron): 1.(F)/121, 2.(F)/121, 3.(F)/121, 4.(F)/121. Disbanded: 1945. Country: Nazi Germany. Branch: Luftwaffe. Role: reconnaissance. Garrison/HQ: Prenzlau. Aircraft flown: Reconnaissance Junkers Ju 88.

Dornier Do 26 V1 (D-AGNT c/n 791) Lufthansa "Seeadler" (Sea Eagle). This is the first prototype, first flown May 21, 1938 by Erich Gundemannn.

Dornier Do 26 V1 "Seeadler" (D-AGNT).

Gotha Go 242 (TD+IN). The Gotha Go 242 was a transport glider used by the Luftwaffe during World War II. It was an upgrade over the DFS 230 in both cargo/troop capacity and flight characteristics. Though it saw limited action, it appeared in multiple variants.

Gotha Go 242 (DL+DV), XI Air Corps, Italy, March 1943.

Glider troops in a Go 242, Russia, 1943.

Soldiers loading into a Go 242 glider, Russia, January 1942.

Soldiers loading into a Go 242 glider, Russia, January 1942.

Soldiers loading into a Go 242 glider, Russia, January 1942.

Go 242 glider, Russia, January 1942.

Go 242 wreckage, Russia, January 1942.

Another view of Go 242 wreckage, Russia, January 1942.

Another view of Go 242 wreckage, Russia, January 1942.

Go 242 glider ready to be towed by a He 111, Russia, January 1943.

Unloading a BMW 801 engine for a FW 190 fighter from a Go 242 glider, Russia, 1943.

Soldiers load into a Go 242 glider, Russia, 1943.

Schwerer Zugkraftwagen 12t (Sd.Kfz. 8) tows a Go 242 glider (LN+2?), XI. Fliegerkorps, Italy, March 1943.

Unloading a Go 242, XI. Fliegerkorps, Italy, March 1943.

Manning a machine gun in a Go 242 glider, Russia, 1943.

Go 242 glider, Russia, 1943.

Removing wounded troops from a Go 242 glider, Russia, 1943.

Gotha Go 242 glider captured in North Africa. Two Messerschmitt Me 109 fighters are visible in the background. 1942.

Gotha Go 242 glider in Russia with Italian soldiers, pictured during the retreat from the Don in the winter of 1942-1943.

A wrecked German Gotha Go 242 glider in North Africa. Note that souvenir hunters cut out the swastika on the tail plane, circa 1942.

Gotha Go 241 (D-IRMM). Go 241 project was an evolutionary development of the concept Go 150 as a light transport and tourist plane - pilot and co-pilot / passenger, and behind them were two chairs sitting side by side in a closed cabin Designer Kalkert tried to improve the aerodynamics of the new aircraft (D-IRMM). The project received  retractable main landing gear, flaps, and split twin-finned tail. The power plant of the new aircraft included two six-cylinder inverted inline engine Hirth HM 506A air cooled take-off power of 160 liters. with. (119 kW), although initially chose two star-engine BMW Bramo Sh.14A also air-cooled. Go 241 did not go in series production because of a series of World War II. The only prototype was lost in 1944.

Horten Ho 229 V3, one of the few times with the wings attached. Its nearly completed airframe was captured in production, with two Junkers Jumo 004B jet engines installed in the airframe. Because of the limited resources of the Horten organization, this aircraft was being built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik at Freidrichsroda, Germany where it was captured by the US Eighth Army. Shipped to the USA. Given Foreign Equipment number FE-490, Foreign Equipment Branch, Technical Data Laboratory, Air Technical Service Command, Wright Field, Dayton, OH. Foreign Evaluation Center, Air Technical Service Command, Freeman Field, Seymour, IN. Renumbered as T2-490, T-2 Office of Air Force Intelligence, Technical Data Laboratory, Air Materiel Command, Wright Field, Dayton, OH. Foreign Evaluation Center, Air Technical Service Command, Freeman Field, Seymour, IN. Set aside for proposed national aviation museum.

Unloading of the captured Horten Ho 229 V3 from a train. August 1945.

Unassembled Horten IX (Ho 8-229, Go 229), circa 1945.

Unassembled Horten IX (Ho 8-229, Go 229), circa 1945.

Junkers Jumo 004 jet engine of unassembled Horten IX (Ho 8-229, Go 229), circa 1945.

Gotha Go 149 V1 (D-EJFR). The Gotha Go 149 was a military aircraft developed in Germany in the mid-1930s for training fighter pilots. It was a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane with tailwheel undercarriage, the main units of which retracted inwards. The wing was wooden, while the monocoque fuselage was metal. Two prototypes were constructed, and an armed version was also proposed as a light home defense fighter (Heimatschutzjäger) armed with two 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine guns, but the Luftwaffe did not purchase either version of the design, and no further examples were built.

Gotha Go 146. The Gotha Go 146 was a twin-engine utility aircraft developed in Germany in the mid-1930s. It was a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane with tailwheel undercarriage, the main units of which retracted into the engine nacelles on the wings. It was offered to the Luftwaffe as a high-speed courier aircraft, but the Siebel Fh 104 was selected instead. With Gotha unable to attract other customers, no serious production was undertaken and a small number of prototypes were the only examples built.

Gotha Go 145 (D-IMNC). The Gotha Go 145 was a German World War II-era biplane of wood and fabric construction used by Luftwaffe training units. Although obsolete by the start of World War II, the Go 145 remained in operational service until the end of the War in Europe as a night harassment bomber.