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Does anyone have some insight to ANR air operations on March 18, 1944. I've spent some time researching it and have come up with quite a few inconsistencies. I have a website with what I've come up with at anrhistory.weebly.com. If there is some insight to add, let me know. Thanks.

Hi,
Chances are that you will find discrepancies, because ANR records and USAAF records don't always jive.
Main reason, improper dates recorded on both sides, misspelled names of cities by USAAF personal.
Also, many American airmen, would mistake ANR planes for German.
Therefore, you might have some problems trying to match certain events.
Italian Ace, Luigi Gorrini, is a great example.
He is still alive at the ripe old age of 93.
He kept very precise log books about his combat record, which according to him, is 24 personnel victories.
Some historians give him only 19.
Most of his victories were with the ANR and some do not match up with USAAF
So, as you can see it's tough at times to try and match events, combat reports, etc.
Vincent.

Vincent, thanks for the reply. On March 18, both 325th and 82nd Fighter Groups document engaging Macchis. I came across some information in another forum indicating that there may have been two separate mission flown by the ANR on the 18th. One with 12 aircraft and the other with 18 for a total of 30 sorties. It seemed unlikely that I GC could be along the Yugoslavian coast and near Udine. All three groups involved also documented losses. The information on my website uses multiple references to develop a plausible theory of what happened.

Thanks again.

From Luca Bossi:

----- Forwarded Message ----

Dear Vincent.

In the attachment information regarding the events on 18 March 44 (from the reference "I Falchi di Mussolini").

Unfortunately the text is in Italian but I hope, comprehensible.

There was a ferocious air battle in Pola skys ( Istria - Yugoslavia ) .

- 30 mc 205 from 1st. group
- (3 staffeln = 100 me?) me 109 from JG53 /JG77
vs
- 90 p38 of 1st-14th-82nd FG
- 41 p47 of 325th FG
- 200 - 250 (?) b17/b24 from 15th AF

Luca Bossi

http://stormomagazine.com/Forum/i_falch ... ini-01.pdf
http://stormomagazine.com/Forum/i_falch ... ini-02.pdf
http://stormomagazine.com/Forum/i_falch ... ini-03.pdf
http://stormomagazine.com/Forum/i_falch ... ini-04.pdf
http://stormomagazine.com/Forum/i_falch ... ini-05.pdf
http://stormomagazine.com/Forum/i_falch ... ini-06.pdf

Awesome! Just what I've been looking for. It has a few details regarding individual pilots and unit combats that took place on the 18th. I picked up the basic info from the book scans, but I'd like to have it translated for the details and any discrepancies with my information that may need amending.

I don't know if you had a chance to look at my page, if so feel free to comment on any of the information. THANKS!

Jim

Jim,
If you could wrap some of the content on your site into an article that we could use on Stormo that would be terrific.

Sounds good. I'll take a look at your information regarding articles and put something together. Thanks for the opportunity.

Jim

Look forward to the article, thank you.