As most of you know, WWII in Europe and the Mediterranean wasn't only against Germany. From June of 1940, Italy was in the mix as well, mostly concentrating on the Mediterranean theater of operations. Like Germany, Italy had been building up its military forces, including its air force and while it was impressive on paper, the truth is that it wasn't up to the standards required for a modern military campaign. There were several reasons for this, the biggest being that Italy did not have the industrial capability needed to sustain a prolonged war. There were other considerations as well such as a reluctance to concentrate of just a few designs and a rather lethargic production pace.

In this new book by author Chris Dunning, we get a chance to look at the complete operational history of the Italian Air Force. This is done by looking at each of the air units and the aircraft they flew. The book opens with a look at the command structure of the Regia Aeronautica and its build up prior to entering the war on 10 June 1940. This includes several maps showing the more important bases.

Then we get into the heart of the book and that is a section on unit histories. This is divided into two sections with the Gruppi taking up the majority of space followed by histories of independent squadriglie. Each one of the unit sections covers the various bases in which they were stationed, as well as the aircraft flown and what their duties were once they arrived. Most of these unit history sections is accompanied by photographs of the planes they flew, color profiles or both.

Once past the unit histories, we get orders of battle for several different locales, a section on the carrier Aquila, anti-shipping operations, fighter aces, aircraft types, markings, camouflage and a lot more. In fact, this revised and updated edition is probably the most comprehensive book on the subject yet written. It makes this an outstanding reference for both the historian and for the modeler. It is a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and browsing through and I'm sure that you will agree. Highly recommended.

November 2009

Review book courtesy of Specialty Press, where you can order your copy of this and many other superb aviation and modeling books. Visit their website at the link above or call them at 1-800-895-4585

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