To the friends who develop missions, some encounters and actions of the RO-43 in the theater of the Mediterranean. The aircraft's good endurance meant that seaplanes could still be useful in the constrained Mediterranean. Six Ro.43 launched from light cruisers played a role in spotting the British fleet during the battle of Calabria, in the opening months of the war. One of them, departing from the cruiser Eugenio di Savoia, kept visual contact with the battleship HMS Warspite during the exchange of fire between the British capital ship and the Italian battleship Giulio Cesare before being chased off by Sea Gladiator from the carrier HMS Eagle. [6]
Near the end of 1940, a lone Ro.43 launched by the heavy cruiser Bolzano was the first to spot the British fleet at the beginning of the battle of Cape Spartivento, at 9:45 [7] while the seaplane of Gorizia located the British Convoy at 11:45. [8] British Skuas from the carrier HMS Ark Royal claimed to have shot down one seaplane after a fruitless bombing on the Italian fleet, purportedly an Ro.43 from the battleship Vittorio Veneto. The performance of the Ro.43s in this battle was eulogized by the Italian supreme command. [10] Another Ro.43 launched by Vittorio Veneto pinpointed the British cruiser squadron at 6:35 during the engagement near Gavdos island, the prelude of the Battle of Cape Matapan, on 28 March 1941. [11]
The cruiser-borne Ro.43 signaled the presence of the British convoy by dropping flares during the Second Battle of Sirte, [12] while another seaplane from the battleship Littorio directed the fire of the Italian fleet onto the British squadron [13] before disengaging at 5:24 p.m.
The Ro.43s continued to take part in shipborne operations as late as June 1942, during the Italian cruiser attack on the Harpoon convoy. One of the Italian seaplanes was shot down by a Bristol Beaufighter from Malta in the course of this action. [16]
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Topic: Zflyer48's Hanger-Ro43 (Read 12847 times)
