Fritz the Cat Unit?

[azyeoman]

Does anyone know which Italian unit used the "Fritz the Cat" emblem during the Spanish Civil War? Thanks in advance!
All the best and Happy Holidays!

[Tom Yanacek]

Hi John,

It seems that the "Felix the Cat" emblem was fairly popular in the Regia Aeronautica. There were at least three land-based fighter units and one land-based bomber unit that used some form of "Felix the Cat" emblem:

1) 352 Squadriglia, 20 Gruppo C.T. (land-based fighter), 56 Stormo

2) 360ª Squadriglia, 155° Gruppo C.T. (land-based fighter), 51° Stormo

3) 162ª Squadriglia, 161° Gruppo Autonomo C.T. (independent, land-based fighter)

4) 9ª Squadriglia, 25° Gruppo B.T. (land-based bomber), 7° Stormo

Whether or not any of these units participated in the Spanish Civil War, I do not know.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Here is the emblem of 352 Squadriglia, 20 Gruppo Caccia Terrestre:

[Tom Yanacek]

Here is the emblem of 360ª Squadriglia, 155° Gruppo Caccia Terrestre:

[Tom Yanacek]

Here is the emblem of 162ª Squadriglia 161° Gruppo Autonomo Cassia Terrestre:

[Tom Yanacek]

And here is the emblem of 9ª Squadriglia, 25° Gruppo Bomdardamento Terrestre:

[azyeoman]

And here is the emblem of 9ª Squadriglia, 25° Gruppo Bomdardamento Terrestre:

I feel pretty certain this is the unit as the badge is very nearly the same as this "Fritz the Cat." It's interesting that the Italians seem to have less noteriaty than the Germans and in particular the Condor Legion when they dedicated so much more men and material. In the long run, that was good for the Allies as Italy had spent a lot of their budget on helping Franco when it could have been building up it's armed forces to a much greater extint. Saying that, there were only 13 BR 20s that were sent to Spain and all were left there when the Italians left. Now, to find out exactly what this squadron did.
Thanks very much for this information. It's very helpful.

PS: I have recently read that the cat emblem was used because of an Italian ace named Gato which means cat in Italian.

[Tom Yanacek]

13 or 113?

Saying that, there were only 13 BR 20s that were sent to Spain and all were left there when the Italians left.

Hello John,

I have seen the references to only 13 Fiat BR 20s being sent to Spain, but the reference in the link below says that 113 Fiat BR 20s were sent. I wonder what number is correct?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviazione_Legionaria

Best regards,
Tom

[azyeoman]

Hello John,

I have seen the references to only 13 Fiat BR 20s being sent to Spain, but the reference in the link below says that 113 Fiat BR 20s were sent. I wonder what number is correct?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviazione_Legionaria

Best regards,
Tom

Hi Tom,

I don't know if it's typos the are making this such a mystery, but at this site,
http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/drnash/...spain/did.html it reports 23 were sent. Then on page 99 of Peter Elstob's book, Condor Legion there is a line drawing fo the plane and mentions that there were only 13 of them "involved." I will keep digging.

Thanks, all the best and happy holidays,
John

[Tom Yanacek]

Hi Tom,

I don't know if it's typos the are making this such a mystery, but at this site,
http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/drnash/...spain/did.html it reports 23 were sent. Then on page 99 of Peter Elstob's book, Condor Legion there is a line drawing fo the plane and mentions that there were only 13 of them "involved." I will keep digging.

Thanks, all the best and happy holidays,
John

Hi John,

In the link you cited above, that number '23' is not the number of BR 20s sent to Spain but the fuselage code number that was used by the Nationalists on their BR 20s.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Here is another reference that says only 13 were sent. (Check Operational History-Spain):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_BR.20

Six were deployed initially in 1937 and another seven in 1938. Of the thirteen sent, nine survived the war and were turned over to Spain.

Best regards,
Tom