This was just the opportunity the German Luftwaffe, Italian Regia Aeronautica, and the Soviet Union's Red Air Force needed to test their latest aircraft.

Regia Aeronautica

The Aeronautica Militare Italiana ( AMI ), the air force of Italy, was founded as an independent service arm on March 28, 1923, by King Vittorio Emanuele III as the Regia Aeronautica ( which equates to " Royal Air Force ").

After World War II, when Italy was made a republic by referendum, the Regia Aeronautica was given its current name.

* March 28 – Regia Aeronautica, the air force of Fascist Italy, is founded.

The Fiat CR. 42 Falco (" Falcon ", plural: Falchi ) was a single-seat sesquiplane fighter which served primarily in Italy's Regia Aeronautica before and during World War II.

The Regia Aeronautica had employed the CR. 32 during the Spanish Civil War with great success, which led to Fiat proposing a more advanced fighter based around the supercharged Fiat A. 74R1C. 38 air-cooled radial engine geared to drive a metal three-blade Fiat-Hamilton Standard 3D. 41-1 propeller of 2. 9 m ( 9. 5 ft ) diameter and a robust, clean, sesquiplane design.

A Fiat CR. 42 in Regia Aeronautica service. The Fiat CR. 42 entered service in May 1939, with the 53 ° Stormo, based at Turin Caselle Airport.

Regia Aeronautica aviators claimed 8-10 air victories and many aircraft destroyed on the ground.

The CR. 42 was the main night fighter of the Regia Aeronautica, even if it was not equipped with radar and often lacked radio equipment.

The Regia Aeronautica was dominant in these fights, sometimes even against more powerful opponents.

Increasingly evident, the Fiat CR. 42 was unable to operate effectively against modern aerial opposition, relying only on manoeuvrability and Regia Aeronautica piloting skills.

The Regia Aeronautica sent 155a Squadriglia ( named Squadriglia speciale Irak ) equipped with the CR. 42 Egeo version which had a radio set and a 100 litre auxiliary tank, increasing the operational range ( typically 800 km at 380 km / h ) up to 1, 100 km at economical speed.

In Iraq, the Regia Aeronautica was only operational for four days ( 28 – 31 May 1941 ), with their aircraft painted in Iraqi colours.

After the Italian armistice the Luftwaffe took over the majority of Regia Aeronautica aircraft.

* Regia Aeronautica

* The Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon has a Regia Aeronautica machine ( MM5701 ) on display.

The Italian Royal Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica Italiana ) was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy.

The Italian air force became an independent service — the Regia Aeronautica — on March 28, 1923.

During the latter half of the 1930s, the Regia Aeronautica participated in the Spanish Civil War, as well as the invasion of Ethiopia.

During the Ethiopian war, the Regia Aeronautica performed massive poison gas bombings and sprayings over the Ethiopian country side using mustard gas and phosgene.

Despite being inadequately equipped, the Regia Aeronautica managed to decimate Ethiopian forces and undertook massive bombings of Ethiopian cities ( particularly Addis Abeba ).

The operations of the Regia Aeronautica were crucial for the success of the invasion of the Regio Esercito and was enhanced by the near total lack of an opposing Imperial Ethiopian Air Force.

The Regia Aeronautica played a limited role during the Italian invasion of Albania.

From 1940 to 1943, the Italian Royal Navy ( Regia Marina Italiana ) established BETASOM, a submarine base at Bordeaux.

The Marina Militare, the Italian Navy, was created in 1946 as the Navy of the Italian Republic, from the Regia Marina.

* 1940 – World War II: Battle of Cape Spada – The Royal Navy and the Regia Marina clash ; the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni sinks, with 121 casualties.

During the Continuation War ( 1941 – 1944 ) not only Finnish and Soviet, but also German and Italian vessels operated there ( see also Naval Detachment K and Regia Marina ).

* 1941 – World War II: British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces defeat those of the Italian Regia Marina off the Peloponnesian coast of Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan.

The Italian explorer Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi and Captain Umberto Cagni of the Italian Royal Navy ( Regia Marina ) sailed the converted whaler Stella Polare (" Pole Star ") from Norway in 1899.

* Regia Nave ( Italian, meaning " Royal Ship "), a ship belonging to the Regia Marina

Taranto naval base for the Italian Regia Marina's First Squadron.

In the nineteenth-century, the Regia Marina ( Italian Navy ) launched an ironclad battleship named Enrico Dandolo.

A base was established here by the Italian Regia Marina ( Royal Navy ) in 1887.

The Falchi defended airfields, cities, and Regia Marina ( Italian Royal Navy ) bases until the Italian armistice with the Allies of 8 September 1943.

Regia Aeronautica aircraft were involved in the Middle East almost from the start of Italian involvement in World War II.

ln June 1940, the Regia Aeronautica in Italian East Africa had between 200 and 300 combat ready aircraft.

After the Italian disasters during Operation Compass and the arrival of General Erwin Rommel and his German Africa Corps, the Regia Aeronautica in the Western Desert became dependent on the German Luftwaffe.

During the first British counter-offensive, the Regia Aeronautica had suffered heavy losses ( over 400 aircraft ) until the Axis attack on Greece began, when a major part of the British land and air forces were diverted there giving the Italian forces time to recover.

In August 1941 the Regia Aeronautica sent an Air Corps of 1, 900 personnel to the Eastern Front as an attachment to the " Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia " ( Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia, or CSIR ) and then the " Italian Army in Russia " ( Armata Italiana in Russia, or ARMIR ) were known as the " Italian Air Force Expeditionary Corps in Russia " ( Corpo Aereo Spedizione in Russia ).

Initially, the Western Desert Campaign was a near equal struggle between the Regia Aeronautica and the British Royal Air Force ( RAF ).

The Regia Aeronautica participated in the air offensive on the British controlled island of Malta along with the German Air Force in an attempt to gain control of the Axis sea routes from Sicily, Sardinia, and Italy to North Africa.

Regia Aeronautica: A Pictorial History of the Italian Air Force, 1940 – 1943.

The Italian Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica's ) primary fighter was the Fiat CR-42, though an advanced design for a biplane with excellent performance characteristics, it was obsolete compared to the then current generation monoplane fighters of other nations.

In addition, the Royal Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica ) could field approximately 1, 760 aircraft, of which only 900 of them could be considered as " front-line machines ".

Prior to the Italian invasion of Egypt, under Air Commodore Raymond Collishaw, the RAF in Egypt — which comprised nine squadrons — focused its activities on ground support, reconnaissance, and only when necessary aerial combat with the Italian Regia Aeronautica.

* Regia Aeronautica ( Royal Air Force ), from 1923 to June 1946

He went through a crash course of flying instruction and set up to build the Italian Royal Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica Italiana ).

When the forces of Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935, aircraft of the Royal Italian Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica Italiana ) scattered fliers asking the population to rebel against Haile Selassie and support the " true Emperor Iyasu V ." It was feared that the Italians would make use of Iyasu to fragment Ethiopian resistance to their conquest.

A small part of the Italian Royal Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica ) remained under German control.

* Regia Aeronautica ( Italian Royal Air Force 1923-1943 )

But at 0800 Badoglio unleashed the bombers of the Italian Royal Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica ) and the Ethiopians could hear the ominous engine roar as they closed in with poison gas.

Pistols taken by the armed forces usually exhibit acceptance marks stamped into the frame on the left just above the grip: " RE " ( Regio Esercito ) for the army, " RM " ( Regia Marina ) for the navy, or " RA " ( Regia Aeronautica ) for the Air Force, always in the form of an Eagle wearing a Royal Crown for the Royal air force.

* January 12 – In the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, aircraft of the Italian Royal Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica ) begin the Battle of Genale Doria by dropping two tons ( 1, 814 kg ) of mustard gas on Ethiopian positions.

* February 16 – 19 – On February 16, Marshal Pietro Badoglio orders Italian ground forces not to pursue Ethiopian forces after they begin to retreat from Amba Aradam and assigns the task of exploitation of Italys victory to the Italian Royal Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica ), a novel task for an air force.

Facing no opposition, the Italian Royal Air Force ( Regia Aeronautica ) has played a decisive role in Italys victory in the eight-month war, but has engaged in a brutal campaign – in which Benito Mussolinis sons Vittorio and Bruno and son-in-law Count Ciano voluntarily participate – of indiscriminate terror bombing and widespread use of mustard gas.