Air attacks on Substance convoy, July 23 1941

[mfy4444]

Hello all. This is my first time posting anything with regard to Italy on this forum, and I'd like to start with a question. During the July 23 Italian air attack of nine (some sources say eight) S.79 level bombers and six S.79 torpedo bombers-- which latter planes crippled destroyer Fearless and badly damaged light cruiser Manchester-- at least three Fulmars were shot down. Does anyone have details (or a link to a reliable site with information), especially about who shot down these Fulmars? Was it the defensive fire of the S.79s? Or did the attack have a fighter escort, which is not mentioned in the online sources I've found? A detailed account of this attack or a link to one would be much appreciated.

Regards and thanks

Mike Yaklich

[Orwell1984]

The following is from Warpaint No 41 Fairey Fulmar by Geoffrey Bussy p 18.

The next Malta convoy included six merchant ships. They left Gibralter on 21 July [1941], accompanied by Force H. After two days they underwent heavy air attacks. Despite the presence of an escort of 20 Fiat G.50 monoplanes the few Fulmars of 807and 808 Squadrons managed to hit several SM 79s. No less than five Savoias were shot down while many others fled away damaged. Three Fulmars were nevertheless hit by return fire and ditched; all crews being rescued by ships. The Italian torpedo bombers hit a cruiser and sent to the bottom a destroyer but the transports passed through

Not a lot of detail there unfortunately but at least it establishes the Fulmars were shot down by return fire from the bombers.

I dug out my copy of Courage Alone The Italian Air Force 1940-1943 by Chris Dunning and have found the following information (taken from assorted unit histories in the book)

280 Squadriglia Sil

On 23 July [1941] three aircraft attempted to attack the carrier HMS Ark Royal while she was avoiding level bombing from 32 Stormo and 51 Gruppo. At least one 32 Sturmo SM 79 was shot down by interceptors, and one Hurricane [Fulmar?]was claimed by 280 Sq Gunners

p 192

283 Squadriglia Sil

On the 23rd [July 1941] four aircraft set out escorted by 20 G50s of 24 Gruppo from Monserrato. Due to their inexperience the escorts soon lost their charges. Six enemy fighters attacked downing two and damaging the other two but also losing two of their own. Five crew members were wounded

p 194

[mescal]

23rd – At 0648 ARK ROYAL flew off the first fighter patrol of the day, and Group 4 closed Group 5.

[At 0657 RENOWN reported a shadowing aircraft in sight ahead of Group 4]

At 0700 ARK ROYAL flew off fighters to intercept the shadower but due to low Sun and mist they failed intercept.

[At 0729 a second shadowing aircraft was reported 10 miles to the north. But again the fighters failed to intercept]

At 0745 Group 4 took up position on the port side (north) of Group 5 in a flexible column with the objective of providing AA protection. RENOWN and HERMIONE remained in loose contact with ARK ROYAL to provide her with radar early warning and protective AA fire.

At 0910 a group of 8 enemy aircraft was detected at 60 miles bearing 055¼; and ARK ROYAL launched 7 more Fulmars lead by Lt Cdr Sholto Douglas, CO of 807 Sqd, to join the four on patrol to meet the attackers.

[At 0930 EDINBURGH of Group 5 recorded a formation of enemy bombers 40 miles away being attacked by two groups of fighters from ARK ROYAL. Also an enemy bomber formation was recorded approaching from ahead, 24 miles distant.

This turned out to be synchronized attack by 8 high level bombers and 7 torpedo bombers. The Fulmars concentrated on the interception the high level bombers, whose attack was broken up and failed, but the torpedo bombers were not seen until it was too late for the Fulmars to intercept]

[At 0942 in 37-40N, 8-20E the air attack commenced and developed into a synchronised high level bombing attack by the 8 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79's of 280 and 283 Squadr“glie, from Elmas, Sardinia, flying from north to south and a torpedo attack from ahead by 7 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79's of 32 Stormo, from Decimomannu, Sardinia.

By 0947 the attack was over.

In the attack the destroyer FEARLESS, who was positioned on the starboard bow of the screen, was torpedoed on the port side aft, abreast the 3inch gun, 26 crew were killed. Both engines failed, all electrical power was lost and a fuel fire started aft, causing FEARLESS to be entirely disabled. Somerville ordered FORESTER to take off the crew and sink FEARLESS. This action was completed by 1055 hours.

Also torpedoed in the attack was the cruiser MANCHESTER who was hit on the port side aft. MANCHESTER had 26 crew killed and 1 wounded, also 13 military personnel were killed and 4 wounded (MANCHESTER had embarked 750 military personnel, mostly the 8th Battalion King's Own Royal Regiment). She was severely damaged and only her starboard outer shaft was operational. Somerville ordered MANCHESTER back to Gibraltar escorted by the destroyer AVON VALE]

[In the attack the Fulmars shot down two SM 79s of 283 Squadr“glie and lost three of their number, one from 807 Sqd and two from 808 Sqd. Sub Lt KG Grant RNVR, and his gunner Leading Airman H. McLeod of 807 Sqd and Lt AJ Kindersley and his gunner Petty Officer FA Barnes of 808 Sqd were lost. A crew from 808 Sqd were picked up by a destroyer]

[The AVON DALE picked up six Italian airmen from one of the shot down SM 79s]

from http://naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-04C ... 0Royal.htm

[mfy4444]

I thought I had already replied to my own question here, but my previous post seems to have vanished into the air-- so please forgive me if my earlier response shows up and makes this a duplication.

At first I thought I had answered my original question, which squares with what Orwell1984 posted-- that the three Fulmars were shot down by defensive fire of the S.79s. That seems to still be the case...

Greene and Massignani ("Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1940-43") describe the attack as being nine S.79 torpedo planes and five Z.1007 level bombers in a coordinated attack. They say four Fulmars were already up on defensive patrol, seven more were launched by Ark Royal when radar detected the incoming aircraft. The Fulmars made a head-on attack on the approaching torpedo planes, shooting one down and damaging several others. The planes pressed on and hit cruiser Manchester with one torpedo, although according to Greene and Massignani the plane that scored the hit was then itself shot down by a Fulmar (interestingly, the Wikipedia page on the S.79 lists a total of three planes lost on July 23, two from 283 Squadriglia-- squaring with Orwell1984's post once again), the other from 38th Squadriglia. Note that there were several air actions in the course of the day, so the loss of two planes seems to match what Greene and Massignani also report. Greene and Massignani also speak of "dogfights" during these later actions, which implies an Italian fighter escort for at least some of the attacks. Certainly the Italians used fighters to escort their bombers in the next Gibraltar-to-Malta convoy operation, Halberd at the end of September.

My original post got the number and type of aircraft involved from Admiral Somerville's "official report"-- presumably for public consumption-- published in a British newspaper a couple years later. That report seems to match the one from naval-history-net (which I've found in the past to be a pretty good source) quoted by mescal in his reply.

At any rate, according to both Greene and Massignani and what Orwell1984 posted, the three Fulmars seem to have all been shot down by defensive fire from the S.79s, which was a pretty good performance by the Italian gunners if true-- and may have given them an actual advantage of three planes shot down for two lost if the numbers quoted in these sources are right... That in itself is somewhat remarkable, given the "popular" narrative (encountered on many websites I consulted searching for an answer) that the S.79 was easy meat for the Fulmar. All the accounts I've seen here seem to agree that the Italian loss was two S.79s from 283 Squadriglia and the British lost three Fulmars.

Now here's another discrepancy (besides the number and type of level bombers in the attack) from Greene and Massignani. They say that destroyer Fearless was hit in a later, separate attack by two S.79s (not in the same assault by the larger formation). I'm inclined to believe that the two ships were hit in the same attack, but that may just be because most of the accounts I've read describe it that way. I'd love some further clarification on this...

Note too that in Dunning's account quoted by Orwell1984 the level bombers are from 32 Stormo while the torpedo planes were from 283 Squadriglia (and 280 Squadriglia), while mescal's quote from naval-history-net reverses this (it's pretty easy to confirm that 283 Squadriglia was indeed a torpedo bomber unit).

You can see why I'm having so much trouble pinning down the facts here. Already we have wide disparities in what happened (how many planes, what types, how many were lost, the sequence of when ships were torpedoed) from some generally decent sources, nevermind all the other stuff splashed all over the internet. Looks like I'll have to do a lot more digging on this one...

Thanks for the responses, further comments and clarification would be welcome if anyone has anything to offer...

Regards

Mike Yaklich

[Orwell1984]

I'd tend to agree with your interpretation that naval-history-net is accurate on the British side of things while Dunning is more accurate in the naming of the Italian units involved. On a side note Osprey publishing is releasing the following title, though not until September 2014 unfortunately.

Savoia-Marchetti S.79 Sparviero Torpedo-Bomber Units

http://www.amazon.ca/Savoia-Marchetti-S ... ywords=s79
This book may contain more details on the role of the torpedo units in this action.

[OHara]

Now here's another discrepancy (besides the number and type of level bombers in the attack) from Greene and Massignani. They say that destroyer Fearless was hit in a later, separate attack by two S.79s (not in the same assault by the larger formation). I'm inclined to believe that the two ships were hit in the same attack, but that may just be because most of the accounts I've read describe it that way. I'd love some further clarification on this...

Hey Mike. The Naval Staff History Mediterranean Convoys 1941 has some detail. About the attack you’re interested in. It says “They [the torpedo aircraft] came from ahead out of the sun, flying low, and as the destroyers opened fire they divided into groups of two or three to attack the convoy on both sides. Two aircraft attacked the Fearless, stationed ahead in the screen, dripping their torpedoes at ranges of 1,500 and 800 yards from a height of 70 feet; the destroyer avoided the first torpedo, but was hit by the second, set on fire, and completely disabled. Other aircraft went on to press home their attacks on the convoy itself. One of them, dropping its torpedo between two transports hit the Manchester as she was turning to regain her station after avoiding two torpedoes fired earlier . . .”

This would resolve one of your questions at least. Also, it says there were nine level bomber, which the fighters intercepted 20 miles from the fleet; that the Fulmars shot down two at the cost of three of their own, and that the other seven bombed the convoy from 10,000 feet. It says there were six or seven torpedo planes.

Vince

[Dili]

That in itself is somewhat remarkable, given the "popular" narrative (encountered on many websites I consulted searching for an answer) that the S.79 was easy meat for the Fulmar.

I have never encountered that "popular narrative" about S.79 vs Fulmars, only about Patrol Cant's - typically the poorly armed Z.501 - versus Fulmars.

It is usuallly difficult for a fighter to have a big upper hand over a bomber with heavier defensive weapons to the fighter ones.
S.79 had 12,7mm vs 7.7mm of Fulmar which makes a range advantage.

As a curiosity Italy had a gunner "ace" Pietro Bonannini with 8 kills, he served with Z.506 and RS.14 patrol planes. One of those was against 2 Spitfires that collided.