Duel 047 - Gladiator vs CR.42 Falco, 1940-1941 (2012).pdf

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GLADIATOR
CR.42
FALCO
1940–41
HÅKAN GUSTAVSSON &
LUDOVICO SLONGO
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
GLADIATOR
CR.42
FALCO
1940–41
HÅKAN GUSTAVSSON AND
LUDOVICO SLONGO
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
CONTENTS
Introduction
Chronology
Design and Development
Technical Specifications
The Strategic Situation
The Combatants
Combat
Statistics and Analysis
Aftermath
Further Reading
Index
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6
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70
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© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
INTRODUCTION
When Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940, its main opponent was Great
Britain and the Commonwealth (the war against France only lasted two weeks). The
battlefield for these two opposing forces was predominantly the Mediterranean, with
a particular focus on North Africa, Malta and Greece. Fighting also took place further
afield in East Africa.
Italy was not well prepared for this war, and its entry into it seems to have been
mostly an opportunistic gamble by the nation’s leader, Benito Mussolini, who longed
for a share in the spoils of war. Although its armed forces struggled valiantly, Italy was
to suffer humiliating defeats during the autumn and winter of 1940 until the
intervention of German forces, which turned the Allied tide of victory until the
autumn of 1942.
For the British, the Mediterranean was a secondary front. The key objective for
Allied forces in-theatre was to keep the Suez Canal open to allow vessels to travel
between the homeland and India. However, it became more important after the
immediate threat of invasion of Britain had diminished in the winter of 1940-41,
being the only theatre where Allied forces could meet their opponents on the ground.
Much propaganda was initially generated following the exploits of British and
Commonwealth troops on the battlefields of North Africa in particular, and this duly
resulted in British strengths being routinely overrated, while those of its Italian
opponents were underrated.
On these battlefields, the last, and arguably the best, biplane fighters clashed –
Italy’s Fiat CR.42 and Britain’s Gloster Gladiator. The respective types’ deployment on
these fronts was of slightly different origin. Drawing upon experience during the
Spanish Civil War, the Italians (and also the Soviet Union) still believed that there was
a place in a modern war for the biplane fighter, complemented by monoplanes, while
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Britain had progressively transferred its Gladiators to secondary fronts, re-equipping
its fighter units on the Channel Front with modern Hawker Hurricanes and
Supermarine Spitfires. Thus, these two outdated biplanes formed the major equipment
of the fighter forces in the Mediterranean area for the first months of the war.
The authors have spent many years researching the participating air forces in these
battlefields, with the aim of overcoming all British and Italian propaganda in order to
be able to produce an unbiased account of what really happened, and provide a fair
description for both of the sides involved.
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© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

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