Fiat CR.42 83sq 18ºgruppo 3ºstormo
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fubar57
General
Beauty Sergio. About as rare as it gets for an attacker against Britain. It wasn't long ago that I found out Italy was involved, if only for a short period.
Geo
Geo
- Thread starter
- #4
the pilot Sergente Pietro Salvadori:
11/11/40 Orfordness, Suffolk. 1345 hrs. CR.42 marked 13-95, 95 Squadriglia, 18 Gruppo, 56 Stormo, Sergente P.Salvadori. The shield for the Squadriglia was the claw of an eagle and the Group shield an axe with three arrows diagonally enclosed in a vertical rectangle. The mission was an escort mission for 10 Fiat BR.20 bombers started at about 1200 hrs. The whole of the 95 Squadriglia with 85 Squadriglia are based at Aiechloo, making 24 CR.42's with 3 reserve aircraft and pilots to each Squadriglia. 22 of these aircraft started on the operation and set a course at 316 degrees climbing to 18,000 ft. Before the combat commenced this aircraft broke an oil pipe and fell behind. The engine got hot, forcing him to land on the beach, nosing over gently but he was nevertheless, extremely proud of his landing. Just after landing he was rather worried as a Hurricane came and had a look at him but in response to his frantic wavings, waved back and went away. The pilot of this aircraft is a reservist, he had previously done a certain amount of glider flying with a youth organization and was called up in the middle of 1938 for his 18 months military service which he did with the Italian Air Force. He spent about 12 months at training schools and completed 100 hrs flying at the end of which he was sent to his squadron. Since then he has flown a further 100 hrs. About 6 weeks ago his squadron was ordered to pack up and instead of going to Africa as they thought, it was sent to Munich where they stayed for 10 days owing to bad weather. After this they moved to Aiechloo(sp?) where they have been ever since. Further interrogation will be carried out. His morale is very poor, does not want to fight and really glad to be out of the war. Very dissatisfied with his officers, loathed the climate in Belgium and can't stand the food or the Germans.
When interrogated by the British, Salvadori commented that he was happy to be out of the war,was dissatisfied with the Italian officers,and didn't like Belgian weather, the Germans, or their food!
the aircraft
The RAF restored 13-95 to flying condition. But, along with roundels and a fin flash, the RAF applied what they believed to be a more effective camouflage. A picture of 13-95 in RAF roundels clearly shows that a third color was applied to the upper surfaces that merged with the original green. My guess is that the RAF applied Dark Earth. Now we do have a CR 42 with Verde 3 and Marrone 2 blotches, but the Marrone may actually have been Dark Earth.
A large part of the blame, however, appears to rest with Waldis and De Bortoli. The RAF Reports, and some information that came to my attention regarding the Fiat G. 50s sent to Finland raised warning flags in my mind and a great deal of doubt as to the reliability of the Waldis and De Bortoli volume.
Let me digress here and discuss the Finnish G. 50 issue. In going through the Finnish Air Force History volume on the Fiat G. 50 by Keskinen and Stenman, I noticed that a number of G. 50s that had not been repainted appeared to have a dark base coat. Darker than what is usually portrayed as Italian Giallo 3. While it is difficult to tell from a black and white photo, the blotches applied seemed to be a single color. The profile also shows a brown base camouflage with green blotches.
stuff of page of stormo:
http://www.stormomagazine.com/Articles/CR42c3_t.jpg
STORMO! A Re-Evaluation of RA Camo 1940
the original profile is the tritone C1a start of the war later was modified to be like this
the tritone so would be
11/11/40 Orfordness, Suffolk. 1345 hrs. CR.42 marked 13-95, 95 Squadriglia, 18 Gruppo, 56 Stormo, Sergente P.Salvadori. The shield for the Squadriglia was the claw of an eagle and the Group shield an axe with three arrows diagonally enclosed in a vertical rectangle. The mission was an escort mission for 10 Fiat BR.20 bombers started at about 1200 hrs. The whole of the 95 Squadriglia with 85 Squadriglia are based at Aiechloo, making 24 CR.42's with 3 reserve aircraft and pilots to each Squadriglia. 22 of these aircraft started on the operation and set a course at 316 degrees climbing to 18,000 ft. Before the combat commenced this aircraft broke an oil pipe and fell behind. The engine got hot, forcing him to land on the beach, nosing over gently but he was nevertheless, extremely proud of his landing. Just after landing he was rather worried as a Hurricane came and had a look at him but in response to his frantic wavings, waved back and went away. The pilot of this aircraft is a reservist, he had previously done a certain amount of glider flying with a youth organization and was called up in the middle of 1938 for his 18 months military service which he did with the Italian Air Force. He spent about 12 months at training schools and completed 100 hrs flying at the end of which he was sent to his squadron. Since then he has flown a further 100 hrs. About 6 weeks ago his squadron was ordered to pack up and instead of going to Africa as they thought, it was sent to Munich where they stayed for 10 days owing to bad weather. After this they moved to Aiechloo(sp?) where they have been ever since. Further interrogation will be carried out. His morale is very poor, does not want to fight and really glad to be out of the war. Very dissatisfied with his officers, loathed the climate in Belgium and can't stand the food or the Germans.
When interrogated by the British, Salvadori commented that he was happy to be out of the war,was dissatisfied with the Italian officers,and didn't like Belgian weather, the Germans, or their food!
the aircraft
The RAF restored 13-95 to flying condition. But, along with roundels and a fin flash, the RAF applied what they believed to be a more effective camouflage. A picture of 13-95 in RAF roundels clearly shows that a third color was applied to the upper surfaces that merged with the original green. My guess is that the RAF applied Dark Earth. Now we do have a CR 42 with Verde 3 and Marrone 2 blotches, but the Marrone may actually have been Dark Earth.
A large part of the blame, however, appears to rest with Waldis and De Bortoli. The RAF Reports, and some information that came to my attention regarding the Fiat G. 50s sent to Finland raised warning flags in my mind and a great deal of doubt as to the reliability of the Waldis and De Bortoli volume.
Let me digress here and discuss the Finnish G. 50 issue. In going through the Finnish Air Force History volume on the Fiat G. 50 by Keskinen and Stenman, I noticed that a number of G. 50s that had not been repainted appeared to have a dark base coat. Darker than what is usually portrayed as Italian Giallo 3. While it is difficult to tell from a black and white photo, the blotches applied seemed to be a single color. The profile also shows a brown base camouflage with green blotches.
stuff of page of stormo:
http://www.stormomagazine.com/Articles/CR42c3_t.jpg
STORMO! A Re-Evaluation of RA Camo 1940
the original profile is the tritone C1a start of the war later was modified to be like this
the tritone so would be
Last edited:
le_steph40
Senior Master Sergeant
8) 
T Bolt
Colonel
Very nice choice Sergio
Nice, surprised me how big it was when i visited Hendon
Crimea_River
Marshal
Just saw this guy at Hendon 2 weeks ago. Very cool. Let me now if you want me to post a couple of detail pics.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Nice one Sergio. There's another example, under long term restoration (I think to flying condition) at Duxford.
- Thread starter
- #11
I'd appreciate some details of the aircraft would have something great cockpit but to what extent as it is a very generic books like osprey and are imprecise photos
Interesting!
fubar57
General
Geo
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Where's the rack for the Chianti bottles ?
Crimea_River
Marshal
I was not able to get close to the cockpit Sergio but here's everything that I have. The lighting was very poor so I slowed the camera down and held it as steady as I could with no tripod.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Very interesting choice Sergio and not your usual scale.
- Thread starter
- #18
Given the lack of time that I have with the impending birth of my son Eneko, and the remaining for it to end this GB plus the fact that even nor have I begun to paint the inside this plane will not do it, I tried to close the thread but I found it imposible.si you can move it to another subforum would appreciate you because I do not like to have this open issue here and that's open until you resume times ..
and all the best 
