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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 2043.PDF
AUGUST 19TH, 1943 FLIGHT Italy's Air Power Steadily on the Down-grade : The Burden of Pre-war Adventures : Deficiency of Raw Materials : Strained Production By V. Is. GRUBERG AS yet it is premature to include the Regia Aeronauticain an obituary of Italy's African Empire and herk island outposts. But while the Empire has disap- peared, the climax in the critical condition of Italy's air power is rapidly approaching, and symptoms of its waning strength and progressive weakness have been apparent for some time. The 'Regia Aeronautica was founded on March 28th, 1923, and during the twenty years since its inception it has taken part in different ventures of the Duce and has been continuously built up. The first major ^operation of the Italian Air Force was in the war against Abyssinia, and after a short interval the second followed in the form of Italian interference in fhe Spanish civil war. It might have been thought that such experimental ex- perience would have resulted in the improvement of equip- ment and in the accretion of operational skill of the Regia. But in reality it produced no dividends. Miscalculated Brig.-Gen. Giuseppe Barba, Inspector-General of the Regia's fighter units, declared recently: "To be sure, the Italian Air Force entered the new world war rich with the experience of two victorious campaigns, but on the other hand it suffered heavy material losses, and has been robbed of the opportunities to exploit this war experience with the same intensity as other nations not involved in military complications during the last years of peace." That the Regia did not profit from the Spanish labora- tory is yet another proof of the inherent weakness loom- ing behind the impressive decorum on the Fascist stage. And since air power cannot be built up with the splendour of impressive, decorations but only by a tremendous ex penditure of material, tools and industrial resources, sooner or later the bleak truth had to come out: Italy was in- capable of keeping pace with the development of aircraft production of other nations. To quote again the Italian Brigadier: "While, during the 10.14.war and shortly after- wards, one might have believed that light construction, SOLE EXAMPLE : The only four-engined Italian bomber is the Piaggio P. 108,a military version of the civil prototype. It is powered with four Piaggio P. XII RC.35 radial engines of 1,350 h.p., has a maximum speed of 290 m.p.h., and isequipped with a pressure cabin. _- The S.M. 84 torpedo-bomber developed from the S.M. 79has a span of 69ft. 9m. and a length of 58ft. 9m. Powered with three 750 h.p. Alfa-Romeo 12RC34 air-cooledradial engines, the aircraft has a top speed of about 260 m.p.h. at 12,500ft., carries two torpedoes, and features an uppergun turret. Note the new twin tail arrangement. simplicity of equipment, and engine performance pre- destined the air force to become the weapon of the 'have-nots,' this idea has since been rapidly and pro- foundly refuted by aerodynamic progress and construction, and by improvements in engine output. In the course of this development the aircraft industry has risen to tower- ing heights in its national importance, and overshadows almost all other branches of the industry. In the con- struction of aircraft Italy was then facing yet another diffi- culty, arising out of her poverty in raw materials: each development was hampered by the necessity to import practically all materials essentially wanted by the industry." In 1936 Italy's capacity to provide herself with essential raw materials did not exceed 37.1 per cent for iron and steel; 14.2 per cent, for manganese ore; 3.2 per cent, for copper ; 0.7 per cent, for mineral oil. All her rubber, chromium, tin and wolfram had to be imported. By 1939 her production of strategic materials was still extremely modest; her share in the world's production of iron ore was not more than 0.7 per cent. ; of coal 0.1 per cent. ; of bauxite 8.7 per cent., and of manganese ore 0.4 per cent. In the whole of 1937 Italy pro duced only as much coal as Great Britain in two days, and even the planned output for 1941 equalled British production of one week only. It can be assumed that some of Ger- many's spoils of Europe have been diverted to Italy, and that an ex- change of goods keeps her supplied to some extent with the required raw materials. But since Germany is
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