Italians in the Battle of Britain - RAF Finally Shows Up

It takes some guts to attack a Spitfire in a CR42...

One can't doubt the bravery of the Italian crews flying less than first rate aircraft against a well trained, veteran determined enemy.

The BR20 had quite a sophisticated bombsight, when compared to the British WW1 era "Mechano, steel rulers & string" contraptions utilised on all British bombers, at the time. The BR20's bombsight was directly linked to the aircraft's altimeter and automatically self recalibrated, if the altitude changed during the bomb run. Something that neither German, American, British or Soviet bombsight could do. Anyone who has flown the BR20 in IL-2 Cliffs of Dover - Blitz, will be very familiar with this very useful feature.

In terms of mono wing fighters, the Italian airframes were actually pretty good. It was engines and firepower that let them down. Later in the war the Italians put German in line engines into their fighters, and for a hurried adaptation performed very well, among the best of the war. I think a lot of people tend to focus too much on how well a fighter aircraft performed, particularly in a one on one furball. Whereas who wins a fight was more depended on who saw who first and who held the height advantage. Formation tactics were important too.

Thanks for the video. When I was an ATC cadet at Biggin Hill, the CR42 was in the museaum hangar. We were supposed to clean the aircraft but actually played with them. I've sat in the CR42 cockpit!

Got to admit the Italians had a cool camo sheme

Those poor Italians didn't stand a chance with that kind of equipment!Shame on their superiors,who sent them on an almost suicidal mission.The CR42 was an excellent fighter for it's time,but underpowered and undergunned.You can outmanoeuver the Hurricains,but you can't chase them or escape.Sad story.Sorry for the Reggia Aeronautica.No match.

It is to the credit of the flying skill and determination of the Italian pilots that they all weren’t shot down during that encounter. Only one Falco biplane fighter was actually shot down with the other two were forced down due to mechanical problems. Those pilots of the Regia Aeronautica were just as brave as any of the Luftwaffe or Royal Air Force pilots who participated in the battle. The Italian fighter pilots and bomber crews didn’t want to be there but they did their duty in their weak under armed bombers and slow short ranged fighters with open cockpits while lacking radios only to be looked down upon with disdain from their German allies. They don’t deserve ridicule only respect.

I’m English. I’ve been speaking English for about 60years and even after all that time, it’s STILL often grammatically inexplicable. Your pronunciation is just fine “Showtime.”

That's right: Harwich is pronounced as "Harrich". There are many English place-names like this; my favorite being Happisburg, which is spoken as "Hays-borough". You get used to it, as a Brit, and if you're not a Brit, you never do get used to it (:>

The grit and determination of both sides warrants admiration especially the Italians in what were obsolete aircraft. That said, as the Gloster Gladiator proved in the desert and at Malta, properly coordinated and with tighter turning circles, biplanes could hold their own against more modern aircraft including 109s

Can't wait to see the last episode! Biplanes, when expertly flown can be hard to kill in a dogfight due to their agility. They may not be able to make a kill, though. Another excellent video. Keep up the good work!

The Italian pronounciation is on point, very well done!

Always a great day when you load up a video

The title suggests the RAF had to cut tea short and grumpily get to their planes.

The Gloster Gladiator, a biplane, clashed with Italian aircraft in North Africa.

I had no idea that CR.42 in the museum at Hendon was downed over British skies. I have my own pictures of it. As for pilot Blatchford, he had an airfield named after him in North Edmonton, up until about 2015ish time frame. Very cool.

A little known aspect of the Battle of Britian and very interesting indeed. Great video!

Look into the East Africa war, this commenced between Italy and DUKE forces (Dominion,UK and Empire) June 1940, the RAF and RAAF were outnumbered by the East African Italian Air Force. Interestingly whilst the bombers were quite modern, the fighters on both sides were biplanes DUKE fury, gladiators . DUKE quickly addressed this with Hurricane, Battle and Mohawk because the Fiat fighters outperformed the Gladiator. It was effectively an holding action until 6 November 1940, when the DUKE forces attacked.

This is absolutely fascinating. I did not know anything about the Italians fighting over Britain.