Along with ancient Fiat biplanes–the Falco and even older CR.32–the ANR possessed one of the Second World War’s finest interceptors, the Fiat G.55 Centauro. Although the Centaur first saw action with the 353rd Squadriglia defending Rome in summer 1943, its operations were mostly conducted in three squadriglie forming the 2nd Gruppo Caccia Terrestre, flying out of Veneria Real. Able to climb to a ceiling of 6,000 meters in seven minutes, twelve seconds, the fighter’s 1,475-hp, 12-cylinder inverted-Vee piston engine gave it a maximum speed of just under 645 km/hr. Its sterling performance made the Centauro the equal, at least, of the best Allied fighters, and enjoyed a solid reputation as an ideal bomber-destroyer afforded by its three 20mm cannons mounted in the engine and wings, plus two 12.7mm machine-guns in the fuselage. Unfortunately for the defense of Italy, just 274 of the G.55s had been produced to contend with literally thousands of American P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs.

Meanwhile, fellow Italians in the Allied-approved Co-Belligerent Air Force were soon disillusioned with their new Allies, who ordered them to transport supplies for Tito’s Communist partisans in Yugoslavia–a shameful assignment that sparked the first defections. Eventually, the once-proud Regia Aeronautica was entirely absorbed into something called the ‘Allied Balkan Air Force’. Those pilots who stayed on were further denigrated by being given only worn-out, second-hand aircraft to fly. By then, according to Neulen, they “despised the politicians whose slogans no longer meant anything to them.”³²

As early as October 1943, Ernesto Botto, the legendary ‘Iron Leg’ of Spanish Civil War fame, worked with Generalfeldmarschall Wolfram von Richthofen, the Luftwaffe commander in Italy, to build the Aeronautica Republicana, as it was first known, with German assistance. As soon as he became its Undersecretary, Botto began making frequent radio transmissions, appealing for support. In just three months, almost 7,000 recruits responded to his broadcasts, among them, top aces of the defunct Regia Aeronautica, including Adriano Visconti, now Commander of the 1st Gruppo Caccia. He traveled to Germany with a number of fellow officers who underwent conversion training in the Messerschmitt Me.109G.

As members of the expanded Aeronautica Nazionale Republicana, they returned to the skies over Turin, flying not only Messerschmitts, but Macchi Greyhounds, to shoot down more enemy aircraft accounted for than by any other Italian unit its size. Visconti was himself credited at this time with downing two P-38 Lightnings and a pair of P-47 Thunderbolts, bringing his total number of ‘kills’ to ten. Promoted to Maggiore, he was given command of the entire 1st Gruppo ‘Asso di Bastoni’. It made its debut on 3 January 1944 with the destruction of four P-38 Lightnings, minus casualties. Before March, Visconti and his men claimed 26 ‘kills’, mostly American, for the loss of nine comrades.

On the 11th of that month alone they scored a dozen victories, losing three Italians. After Lt. Boscutti baled out of a stricken Veltro and was hanging defenseless in his parachute harness, he was deliberately machine-gunned to death by a U.S. pilot. Another A.N.R. officer was identically shot a week later, when thirty Macchi Greyhounds were joined by sixty Messerschmitt Gustavs of JG.77 to intercept 450 Allied bombers and dozens more Lockheed Lightnings, P-51 Mustangs and Spitfires. That the Axis airmen were able to bring down four of the enemy against such odds, for the loss of just one of their own, was remarkable. Like Lt. Boscutti, Corp. Zaccaria was shot to death while suspended under his parachute by a P-38 pilot. According to Neulen, “Allegedly, there was an RAF order that authorized the shooting of Axis pilots hanging from parachutes.”³³

Attrition of Italian and German machines was high, less from aerial combat than during ground attacks by outnumbering squadrons of USAAF fighter-bombers. But throughout most of 1944, these loses were made good by efficient factory production and successful cash collections provided by the civilian population. While virtually every Italian warplane was represented in the Aeronautica Nazionale Republicana, its effectiveness was increasingly compromised by lack of sufficient replacement parts and aviation fuel, especially by early winter 1944.

The A.N.R.’s final operations were undertaken by ten S.M.79s combined in an anti-shipping group at Ghedi beginning in October. They celebrated Christmas Day by attacking an Allied convoy near Ancona, torpedoing a 7,000-ton freighter. Responding to the unexpected sortie within twenty-four hours, P-47 Thunderbolts descended on the airfield to shoot up the venerable bombers parked in the open at the Lonate Pozzolo airfield. The survivors’ parting shot came on 5 January 1945, when a last pair of Sparvieros sank a 5,000-ton transport off the Dalmatian coast.

Following the final collapse of the RSI in late April, 1945, Maggiore Visconti negotiated a surrender with Communist partisans in Milan, guaranteeing full military honors and protection for his men of the 1st Gruppo. A few hours later, he and his flight adjutant, Sottotenente Stefanini, were found murdered, shot in the back.