WINGS OF ITALY – The Italian Air Force in original WW2 colour pictures

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the forming of the Regia Aeronautica as an independent service, on 28 March 1943 the Italian Air Force released a full-colour booklet entitled Nei cieli di guerra. For over half a century, this would remain the only such publication on the wartime Italian Air Force.

In 1994, inspired by the massive output of colour photo albums on the USAAF and RAF, a group of Italian enthusiasts decided to prepare a similar book on the Regia Aeronautica. Rare colour slides and prints, surprisingly well preserved, emerged from decades of obscurity.

The result of this work is a volume which from the Breda 65 to the Bf 109, passing through the Piaggio p. 108 and the Stuka, without overlooking the Macchi fighters and the legendary S.79 – breathes life back into the sky of Ukraine and the sands of Libya.

 Whether portraying in fast-paced combat or deceivingly restful scenes, the pictures show new and deep dimensions of those distant events.

The vast majority of the photos in this book have never been published before, in Italy or abroad.

Their arrangement by service branch from bombers to gliders, from fighters to test centres paints a comprehensive portrait of the Regia Aeronautica in the Second World War.

It is the authors’ hope that the Wings of Italy will serve as both remembrance and stimulus to bring out other original colour material.