ANR Veltro 15-2

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Edie1971
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Re: ANR Veltro 15-2

Post by Edie1971 » Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:13 am

Editor wrote:
Tue Jul 28, 2020 2:37 pm
Edie1971 wrote:
Tue Jul 28, 2020 7:30 am
Stefano wrote:
Fri Jul 17, 2020 10:36 am
To complete what said Vince about the 15-2, it was the MM 92276 and it seems it was flown by S.Ten. Aurelio Morandi (at right of Visconti in the photo) on 19 April 1945. That day, Morandi shot at and badly damaged a B-24 (s/n 42-50428, 859th BS, Cpt Sutton) near the Swiss border, but was hit by return fire and killed. The Liberator was soon after shot down by Morandi's companions: Ten. Oddone Colonna and Serg.M. Brunello. The crew jumped and went PoW. The kill was shared by the three pilots.
Aurelio Morandi was the last of the 210 ANR personnel dead in WWII.
Stefano
He was flying that plane in 1945? I thought all ANR Fighter units had BF-109's after July 1944?
2o Gruppo re-equipped with Bf.109s in June 1944 and 1o Gruppo didn't lose (at least temporarily) their C.205Vs and G.55s until after August 25 1944 during Operation Phönix (on 8 August 1944 there were 14 C.205Vs and 18 G.55s available to 1o Gruppo). In October 1944 the Germans then (incredibly) dismantled the C.205Vs and G.55s at Vicenza - contrary to popular belief the ANR (its pilots) did not destroy their aircraft, it was the Germans. 1o Gruppo then began training and conversion to the Bf.109 in November 1944 and it wasn't until 1945 that it became operational on the type. Stefano is on vacation but I'm sure he'll clarify what he meant.
Vince sorry about resurrecting an old post, but I was curious about what you mention here about the usage of C.205's and other Italian fighters by the ANR after 8/1944. Did Stefano ever clarify this? I was looking at D'Amico book "Air War Italy" and even in there according to the intelligence briefings it seems that no Italian fighters were used in combat after August 1944....thanks!

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Re: ANR Veltro 15-2

Post by Editor » Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:58 pm

At the end of April 1944 US bombers destroyed the Fiat and Macchi works which halted production of the C.205V and G.55. Its unclear how much production was affected at Fiat but its assumed almost all production was stopped. There may have been a few airframes that weren't badly damaged and subsequently completed. There's plenty of photos of G.55 wrecks around the Fiat-Aeritalia Turin works. The Macchi works were destroyed. In ADI #10 Vergnano says the Germans limited production of the G.55 and hence serviceability and so this drove (in part) the decision to reequip 2o Gr. with the Bf.109. In any case by July 31 1944, 1o Gr. 2a Sq. had all C.205Vs (1a and 3a Sq. transferring its C.205Vs to 2a Sq.) while 1a and 3a Sq. operated a mix of C.205V and G.55s (formerly 2o Gr. planes). 2o Gruppo received the Bf.109 because some of its pilots had flown the Bf.109 with the RA. 2o Gruppo transferred all its G.55s to 1o Gruppo beginning at the end of May and completed the transfer by mid-July (just 8 remaining), 1o Gr being equipped solely with the C.205V up to that point. Operation Phönix was executed by the Germans in August 1944 and 1o Gruppo never got its planes back having been dismantled by the Germans in October 1944. I'm not sure what Stefano was referring to, pm him. As far as I know, the ANR did not operate the C.205V or G.55 as a frontline fighter after Operation Phönix. 1o Gr. did not become operational again until February 1945 and only then with the Bf.109.

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Re: ANR Veltro 15-2

Post by Edie1971 » Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:16 am

I know it's an old source but the Squadron C.202 in action mentions as well that the Fiat and Macchi factories were switched over to making BF-109 components mid 1944. Not sure how true that is. They also mention that 3 Gruppo was formed and was supposed to use leftover Italian fighters but it never got up to status. That is one unit that seems a mystery.

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Re: ANR Veltro 15-2

Post by Editor » Wed Jan 05, 2022 8:38 am

3o Gruppo was formed on paper, there were pilots but no airframes, 1o and 2o Gr absorbing all production. Some of the old Intergest books have incredible details that seemed to have been forgotten - the volume of information in Italian sources dwarfs what we have in English. What was left of the Macchi and Fiat works likely transitioned to the manufacture of components for other types, I don't recall a source for what happened to these plants after April 1944.

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