Dusting off an old build, giving her a backstory

[upnorth]

I was going through pictures I had saved to CD and found the pics of a whiff project that I joined this site with about five years or so ago.

Some of you may remember my Fiat 163I Cometa:





I never really did much of a backstory for her, except to say that she was an Italian produced ME-163B and North African based ones were responsible for putting several USAAF B-24 Liberators bound for Europe at the bottom of the Mediteranean before they could get very far.


At that, I've recently written a more beefed up backstory:


Italian production of the aircraft commenced shortly after the Me-163B appeared in 1941. The Italian experience with the aircraft, though poorly documented, stands in marked contrast to the German one.

While the Germans dealt with safety issues pertaining to the volatile and unpredictable T-Stoff and C-Stoff fuel mixture; the Italians seemed to not have the same problems. In fact, by what few accounts still exist, the Cometa had a different fuel combination and engine entirely. Due to few official records, no known Cometa veterans, and no Italian examples of the aircraft surviving; the nature of this possibly different fuel and engine combination remains wide open to conjecture.

Unlike the German Me-163B, the Fiat 163I suffered relatively few teething problems and was in squadron service significantly before it's German counterpart. By summer of 1942, the first Italian air force Cometa units had been established in Northern Italy to intercept Bucharest Alliance bombers coming in from Hungary, Romania and the Balkans. Shortly after, additional units of Cometa were sationed on the "toe" of Italy and in North Africa to stem the tide of Allied invasions from the south.

While the northern based Cometa fleet saw little action, due to the Bucharest Alliance's unexpected adherance to the terms of the 1940 Coppenhagen treaty between Britain and the Soviet Union which stipulated Soviet and Bucharest Aliiance forces would not push further west than the Germany Czechoslovak border, the southern Italy and North African based ones did see no small amount of battle.

Through 1942 and into 1943 the Cometa racked up a notable tally against Allied bombers, though did suffer a good deal of attrition itself as it did take a very experienced and cool headed pilot to make the most of the aircraft without disasterous results, particularly on landings where most accidents with the type occured.

For many years, Italy claimed a certain Captain Lorenzo Piccolo was actually a Cometa ace. Claims were that he had 15 victories over Allied bombers, including a pair of FAA torpedo bombers. However, postwar research has largely dispelled this claim to the point of being able to concretely say that there is no record of a Lorenzo Piccolo, of any rank, ever having been assigned to fly the Cometa. Ironically, the proof is considered to be in how complete the record is of Piccolo and his servcie with the Cometa; indeed, it is the most complete chapter in the Italian experience with the aircraft. When so little else in the way of Cometa documentation was known to remain, it was only natural that such a seemingly complete section would eventually have doubt cast upon it.

Shortly before the surrender of Italy to the Allies, the remaining Cometa in the south of Italy and in North Africa were intentionally destroyed by crews who were loyal to the Fascist regime. the destruction was so complete that there was virtually nothing for the Allies to learn from the ruined hulks.

The remaining Cometa in the north were eventually destroyed on the ground though guerilla actions of resistance cells determined to capture Mussolini in his last refuge in that part of the country. As in the south, the destruction of the northern Cometa was so complete as to render the airframes unfit to study.

Along with the conjecture surrounding the Cometa engine and fuel combination, there is an additional enigma to the story:

Italy was known for having rather disorganised leadership in the higher echellons which led to chronic problems in supply and logistics on several levels. However, these problems did not seem to have much effect on the Cometa, it's swift production and entry into Italian service and the level of logistical support it recieved once deployed. How this situation arose has never been satisfactorily explained, even by people who were in the inner most circles of the Cometa production and deployment arenas.

What is not in debate is that, in the end, between 50 and 70 Allied aircraft fell to the guns of Cometa between 1942 and 1943.

Any thoughts and feedback are, as always, quite welcome.

[upnorth]

Thanks apophenia.

Love the montage.