Details of tail damages of the same Re.2001 of the prior picture. The Re.2001 had a good reputation among the pilots especially for its capacity of absorb also heavy battle damages as displayed by this pictures. Victor Sierra

Battle damages

The Reggiane Re.2001 number 4 of the 2nd Gruppo Caccia’s 152nd Squadriglia of Italian Regia Aeronautica’s returned to its Sicilian base heavy damaged after a fierce fight with the RAF over Malta, Summer 1942. This little fighter, armed with four machine guns on the standard version, two 12,7 mm on the nose and two 7,7 mm on the wings, engine the DB601, was mainly employed over Malta from May 1942 also in collaboration with the MC.202s sharing the duties: Re.2001s bombers direct escort, MC.202s the indirect escort on altitude. During the campaign of 1942, within the space of a month, the 2nd Gruppo had two leaders KIA: Lieut. Col. Aldo Quarantotti, on 12 July, and Maggiore Pier Giuseppe Scarpetta, on 14 August. Victor Sierra

Return from Malta

Close up of an Italian Regia Aeronautica’s Junkers Ju 87B Stuka (Italian nickname “Picchiatello”) of 97th Gruppo heading to target during the war against Greece, 1941. On the landing gear fairing the Gruppo’s emblem: a duck transformed in bomb. Victor Sierra