Air Force Commanders in Libya 1940?

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by Dili » Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:38 am

I am looking for the name of Air Force Commanders of Regia Aeronautica. Libya (East)
Regia Aeronautica. Libya (west) in 1940. Anyone?

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by Davide Pastore » Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:06 pm

Settore Ovest (HQ Tripoli) - Gen. B.A. Raul Da Barberino

Settore Est (HQ Bengasi) - Gen. D.A. Fernando Silvestri

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by Dili » Tue Oct 09, 2007 6:14 am

Thanks Davide!

I have the others maybe you can review the list since some came from indirect information and maybe have some orthographic error.

Aero. della Sicilia Palermo Gen. Monti (Formed 12.40)
Aero. della Sardegna Cagliari Gen. Urbani
Aero. dell' Egeo Rodi M.Gen.Ulisse Longo
Aero. dell' Albania Tirana Lt.Gen.F.Ranza
3 Squadra Aerea Roma Gen Mario Ajmone Cat
1 Squadra Aerea Milano Gen Sq Aerea Rino Corso Fougier
4 Squadra Aerea Bari Lt.Gen.A.Bonola
2 Squadra Aerea Palermo>Padova(12.40) Lt.Gen.T.Toccolini

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by Davide Pastore » Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:20 am

Unfortunately, it looks like your source is often wrong.

Correct commanders 10 June 40:

1ª Squadra Aerea (Milano) - Gen. S.A. Rino Corso Fougier
2ª Squadra Aerea (Padova) - Gen. S.A. Gennaro Tedeschini Lalli
3ª Squadra Aerea (Roma) - Gen. S.A. Aldo Pellegrini [#1]
4ª Zona Aerea Territoriale (Bari) - Gen. S.A. Eraldo Ilari [#2]
Comando Aeronautica A.S.I. (Tripoli) - Gen. S.A. Felice Porro [#3]
Comando Aeronautica A.O.I. (Addis Abeba) - Gen. S.A. Pietro Pinna
Comando Aviazione Egeo (Rodi) - Col. Ezio Padovani [#4]
Comando Aviazione Albania (Tirana) - Gen. S.A. Ferruccio Ranza
Comando Aviazione Sicilia (Palermo) - Gen. D.A. Renato Mazzucco
Comando Aviazione Sardegna (Cagliari) - Gen. D.A. Ottorino Vespignani

[#1] Later Gen. S.A. Mario Ajmone Cat
[#2] Became 4ª Squadra Aerea on 15 December 1940
[#3] Became 5ª Squadra Aerea on 25 July 1940
[#4] Later Gen. B.A. Umberto Cappa

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by Dili » Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:06 pm

One of the sources was Air Research Combat Units of the Regia Aeronautica Italian by Chris Dunning. It says 5 Squadra Aerea was split in Settore Est and Ovest on 15 July 40 but I have also found in Official Italian Air Force page that Settore Est and Ovest was already established at war start. Also, that book says 2 Squadra Aerea was in Sicily at War start and then was moved to Padova in 12.40 and Aero. della Sicilia takes over its duties. It is all conflicting data.

Also from here
http://niehorster.orbat.com/019_italy/__italy.htm

And other places like this:

"Il Comando dell'Aeronautica dell' Egeo fu assegnato dal 1940 al marzo del 1943 al gen.Ulisse Longo e quindi dal gen. Alberto Briganti sino all'armistizio."

Organizzazione della Regia Aeronautica

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by orlando lorenzini » Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:44 am

Davide Pastore!:
My congratulations for this information.Thanks.
Pedro "Orlando"

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by Davide Pastore » Wed Oct 10, 2007 6:37 am

Dili wrote:Also that book says 2 Squadra Aerea was in Sicily at War start and then was moved to Padova in 12.40 and Aero. della Sicilia take over its duties. It is all conflicting data.

Aeronautica della Sicilia was a territorial [airfield, installations, services, personnel] command including (of course) Sicily.
It also originally commanded the (few) pre-war air units in Sicily.

2ª Squadra Aerea was instead a group of air units [aircraft, pilots].
Its normal location coincided with the territorial command named 2ª Zona Aerea Territoriale (North-East Italy).

During spring 1940 most (but not all) of 2ª S.A. air units were temporarily transferred in Sicily for action against Malta and Tunisia, but Aeronautica della Sicilia still did exist and still had territorial jurisdiction upon its territory. However, the (few) air units already stationed in Sicily were attached to 2ª S.A..

Z.A.T. Commanders on 10 June 1940:

1ª Z.A.T. (Milano) - Gen. D.A. Alberto Briganti
2ª Z.A.T. (Padova) - Gen. D.A. Ettore Faccenda
3ª Z.A.T. (Roma) - Col. Ribella (later Gen. D.A. Mario Infante)

After 4ª Z.A.T.'s air units became 4ª S.A. (under Ilari), 4ª Z.A.T. was commanded by Gen. B.A. Bonola.

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by Dili » Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:12 pm

Okay, thanks for the explanation and also the added commanders. If i am understanding right the ZAT's were territorial commands that could in some circumstances control air units and after of the 2 Squadra returned to North Italy the Sicilian ZAT controlled all air units. Am I right?

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[Webmaster]

by Davide Pastore » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:05 pm

Dili wrote:after of the 2 Squadra returned to North Italy the Sicilian ZAT controlled all air units . Am i right?

Right, except that Aeronautica della Sicilia was not called Z.A.T.

The four Z.A.T. were large areas: NW, NE, Central, and S Italy respectively.

Bottom line: there were four large metropolitan commands where there was a duplication of command lines (S.A. / combat and Z.A.T. / logistic; the initial absence of a 4ª S.A. being an exception) plus a number of smaller commands (the ones listed plus, later, the Balkan occupied countries) where a single command line was able to control both functions.
Davide

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by Dili » Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:06 pm

Okay, that explains it thanks.

I hope it is not too much requesting but you tell me when that Balkan air command was set up and it's initial Location and Commander?

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by Davide Pastore » Fri Oct 12, 2007 10:02 pm

Dili wrote:I hope it is not too much requesting but you tell me when that Balkan air command was setup and it's initial Location and Commander?

A bit difficult, since my main source (Arena) provides a comprehensive OOB only for war start; thereafter one has to manually search through his mammut history (exceedingly badly-indexed BTW) and so...

I can tell the situation in summer 1942:

1ª S.A. - Gen. S.A. Gennaro Tedeschini-Lalli
2ª S.A. - Gen. S.A. Felice Porro
3ª S.A. - Gen. S.A. Eraldo Ilari
4ª S.A. - Gen. S.A. Ferruccio Ranza
5ª S.A. - Gen. S.A. Vittorio Marchesi
- Settore Est (HQ Fuka) - Gen. B.A. Venceslao D'Aurelio
- Settore Centrale (HQ Sidi Califa) - Gen. B.A. Augusto Bacchiani
- Settore Ovest (HQ Tripoli) - Gen. B.A. Mario Boschi
Aeronautica Sicilia - Gen. D.A. Silvio Scaroni
Aeronautica Sardegna - Gen. D.A. Aldo Urbani
Aeronautica Slo.Da. [Slovenia-Dalmazia] (HQ Sussak) - Gen. B.A. Mario Piccini
Aeronautica Albania - Gen. D.A. Gino Sozzani
Aeronautica Grecia (HQ Araxos ?) - Col. Umberto Chiesa
Aeronautica Egeo (HQ Rodi) - Gen. D.A. Ulisse Longo
Aeronautica F.O. [Fronte Orientale, i.e. Eastern Front] (HQ Stalino ?) - Gen. B.A. Enrico Pezzi

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by Dili » Wed Oct 17, 2007 4:31 am

Many thanks Davide.