On 26 November 1941, during Operation Crusader, 19 Macchis of 9° Gruppo, 4° Stormo were sent to Africa, in response to the British offensive. During its initial combats over the Western Desert, the Folgore was quite a surprise to British pilots and it remained a respected adversary. In the desert war, the SAS incursions behind the lines, led by men like "Paddy" Maine were aimed at destroying aircraft at their bases. On the night of 28 December 1941, Macchi 202s of 1° Stormo were based at Uadi Tamet. They were transferred from Italy one month before and recently relocated from El Merduma because this airbase was too exposed to SAS attacks but this did not help them. 1° Stormo had 60 fighters, his 17° Gruppo around 30. In a month of combat this latter lost eight fighters. That night Mayne and his three comrades destroyed nine others, causing a great loss to Italians and decimating this fighter's group (the other, 6°, had only one MC.202 damaged). Italians placed much hope in these brand-new fighters but after this attack were forced to move them further back, well away from the front lines to avoid more losses. During 1942, Bf 109F/Gs and Macchi C.202s fought Allied air forces in the skies of North Africa. At the time of Rommel's offensive on Tobruk, 5° "Squadra aerea" ("Aviation Corps"), based in North Africa, had three Macchi wings: 1° Stormo had 47 C.202s (40 serviceable), 2° Stormo had 63 C.200s (52) while 4° Stormo had 57(47). This, coupled with the 32 Cant Z.1007s, was one of the most powerful fighter forces that the Italians fielded in the war, and comprised almost a 10th of the overall Folgore production.[4][page needed] In the meantime, some Macchi fighters were sent to the USSR to supplement the obsolete C.200s.
At the end of the year, the growing strength of the Allied forces was overwhelming and after the defeat in the skies over Malta as well as El-Alamein the last operational Axis units lost their air superiority in the Mediterranean. The Germans and the Italians succeeded in establishing a bridgehead in Tunisia, and later in December the Regia Aeronautica transferred four fighter squadrons there. The 5a Squadra Aerea, which had left Libya and retreated to the Tunisian regions, had previously repatriated all aircraft unsuitable for further action to Italy. On 21 February 1943, the 5a Squadra Aerea still had, in the northern sector, the 6° Gruppo C.T. with three squadrons of MC.202s at Sfax and Gammarat and in the southern sector, 3° Stormo with six squadrons of MC.200s and MC.202s at El Hamma. "Although these forces were quite insufficient they nevertheless achieved quite notable successes. The Macchis continued fighting while retreating to Tunisia and then in the defence of Sicily, Sardinia and Italy against an increasingly stronger opponent. The Macchis of two groups which landed at Korba airfield from Italy experienced one notable action. Forced to concentrate 40 C.202s (both 7° and 16°, 54° Stormo) on a Tunisian airfield, on 8 May 1943, almost all the C.202s were destroyed on the ground by marauding Spitfires. A contemporary photo showed over a dozen Macchi C.202s in an abandoned airfield, damaged beyond repair by air attacks or dismantled to support the last few operating fighters. Because no transport aircraft were available every surviving fighter taking off the next day had two men inside, a pilot and a mechanic. Only a few aircraft (five of 7° and six of 16°) were repaired by 10 May 1943 and retreated to Italy. At least one, manned by Tenente Lombardo, was destroyed and the two men inside were wounded after crash-landing on a beach near Reggio Calabria.
In May 1942, the 22° Gruppo Caccia, that had reached its operational limit, was replaced by the newly formed 21° Gruppo Autonomo C.T. composed of 356ma, 382ma, 361ma and 386ma Squadriglia. This unit, commanded by Maggiore (Major) Ettore Foschini, brought new C.202s and 18 new Macchi C.200 fighters. [41] In August 1942, at the beginning of the Soviet offensive they were deployed at the Stalino, Lughansk, Kantemirovka and Millerovo airfields, fighting against the Red Army positions on the east Don river during October–November 1942. the fighters operated in adverse climate conditions (40° to 45° below zero and heavy snow storms) while under heavy Russian fighter-bomber harassment.[citation needed]Under these circumstances, 21° Gruppo - which had 17 C.202s on strength - was rather moderate in deploying the C.202s. Only a total of 17 missions were flown with Folgores on the Eastern Front during a four-month period. [42] The C.202s were forced to escort C.200s alongside Fiat BR.20Ms and Caproni Ca.311s in attacks against Soviet columns, while facing great numbers of new V-Vs fighters. The C.202s also escorted CANT Z.1007bis in reconnaissance missions[citation needed] and German transport aircraft. One of these missions was the escort to Junkers Ju 52s flying to Stalingrad, on 11 December 1942, during which Tenente Pilota Gino Lionello was shot down and had to bail out from his Folgore.
After the abandonment of advanced airfields between December 1942 - January 1943 at Voroshilovgrad, Stalino and Tscerkow, the Italian air units operated in defensive actions against a more potent Soviet air offensive, mainly using Ilyushin IL-2s Shturmoviks and Petlyakov Pe-2s. In March 1943, the Corpo Aereo Italiano was detached to Odessa airbase joining Reggiane Re. 2000 Heja I of the Hungarian MKHL 1 and 2/1 Vadaszszazad and IAR 80C and Bf 109E/G of Romanian FARR 4 and 5 detached at same base and Saki (Crimea) in a holding action against the V-Vs armada of 2,000 aircraft, at a time when Axis air forces only countered with 300 operative aircraft with very small quantities of fuel, munitions and equipment. The last effective operation of Corpo Aereo Italiano in Russia occurred on 17 January 1943, when one mixed formation of 25 surviving Macchi fighters (out of a remaining total of 30 C.200s and nine C.202s) attacked Red Army armored and motorized infantry columns to support German and Italian units encircled in Millerovo.
The C.202s played a significant role in the defence of Sicily and Southern Italy against bombing attacks launched by the USAF, but by the time of Allied invasion of Sicily (10 July 1943) they were less effective as attrition had reduced the number available, while 20 mm cannons were needed to cause enough damage, so Bf 109F/Gs, Macchi MC.205s and Fiat G.55s replaced C.202s as soon as possible. Mixed units (such as the 51° Stormo, Sardinia) were formed with C.202s often serving with C.205s. At the Armistice, there were only 186 Folgores, with 100 aircraft still servicable. Several C.202s also served with the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, and some were transformed into C.205s or C.202/205 with the Veltro's engine. Others served as trainers in the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (National Republican Air Force) of the Italian Social Republic (RSI) and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). Switzerland ordered 20 C.202s, but none were delivered, because at that time (12 May 1943), Italy no longer had the capability to export these types of aircraft. However, 12 C.202s and probably another 12 were delivered to the Croatian Air Force Legion for operational use against the RAF and USAAF over Croatia in mid-1944, all ex-LW fighters. After the bombing of Macchi Industries in 1944, the combat career of the C.202 and C.205 was nearly over. Post-war, however, some aircraft had survived along with newly manufactured C.205s to serve in Italy, C.202s were operational until 1948. The Royal Egyptian Air Force ordered a total of 42 C.205s, but 31 were re-engined Folgores (C.202s) armed with only two 12.7 mm Breda machine guns. Some of these aircraft fought against Israel, and were in service until 1951.
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Macchi C.202 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia