Archivio Rosa

Serg. pilota Aldo Rosa 91^ Squadriglia

Biplane fighter aces
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_rosa.htm

Sergente Aldo Rosa

When Italy declared war on the Great Britain and France on 10 June 1940,  Sergente Aldo Rosa served in the 91^a Squadriglia, 10^o Gruppo, 4^o Stormo C.T. 

On 12 June, the 2^o Stormo’s fighters in North Africa were joined by those of the 10^o Gruppo (84^a, 90^a and 91^a Squadriglie) of the Gorizia based 4^o Stormo C.T.. The Gruppo was commanded by Tenente Colonnello Armando Piragino and started the war at Tobruk T2 with 27 CR.42s. 
The 91^a Squadriglia C.T. was composed of the following pilots: Capitano Giuseppe D’Agostinis (CO), Tenente Enzo Martissa, Sottotenente Ruggero Caporali, Maresciallo Raffaele Chianese, Maresciallo Vittorio Romandini, Sergente Maggiore Leonardo Ferrulli, Sergente Maggiore Lorenzo Migliorato, Sergente Maggiore Natale Fiorito, Sergente Maggiore Elio Miotto, Sergente Rosa, Sergente Alessandro Bladelli, Sergente Guido Scozzoli and Sergente Luigi Ferrario. They had ten CR.42s on strength (including Piragino’s). 

At 17:00 on 8 August, Maggiore Carlo Romagnoli (CO of the 10^o Gruppo) took off from El Adem T3 airfield with 15 other aircraft from the 9^o and 10^o Gruppi to patrol along the Egyptian border and to give indirect cover to five SM 79 bombers and a single reconnaissance Ro.37, which were out to patrol the same area. The five SM 79s were a formation from the 44^a Squadriglia, 35^o Gruppo, led by Capitano Giuseppe Pagliacci, which were out to bomb enemy vehicles and aircraft in the Bir El Chreigat area. 
Participating pilots were Romagnoli, Capitano Giuseppe D’Agostinis (CO 91^a Squadriglia), Tenente Enzo Martissa (91^a Squadriglia), Sergente Rosa (91^a Squadriglia), Tenente Giovanni Guiducci (CO 90^a Squadriglia), Sergente Maggiore Angelo Savini (90^a Squadriglia), Capitano Luigi Monti (CO 84^aSquadriglia), Tenente Vittorio Pezzè (CO 73^a Squadriglia), Tenente Valerio De Campo (73^a Squadriglia), Sottotenente Carlo Battaglia (73^a Squadriglia), Sottotenente Alvaro Querci (73^a Squadriglia), Maresciallo Norino Renzi (73^a Squadriglia), Sergente Maggiore Enrico Dallari (73^a Squadriglia), Sergente Antonio Valle (73^a Squadriglia), Sergente Santo Gino (73^a Squadriglia) and Sergente Lido Poli (73^a Squadriglia). 
Immediately after take-off, Romagnoli started to climb, keeping the sun in the back. At 2500 meters over Gabr Saleh (around 65 kilometres south-east of El Adem and 35 kilometres east of Bir El Gobi, well inside the Italian territory) when the Italian formation was still climbing, Tenente Pezzè saw two formations of Gloster Gladiators higher and, after giving the alarm to the gruppo commander, tried to attack the enemy fighters frontally and from below. 
Then, completely unseen by Pezzè and the other Italian pilots a third formation of Glosters attacked the 73^a Squadriglia formation from above (the surviving Italian pilots estimated that each British formation was nine planes strong so, after the combat, they assessed that they fought against 27 enemy fighters for fifteen minutes).    

On 23 November, Sergente Rosa and Sergente Alessandro Bladelli of the 91^a Squadriglia took off from T4 and claimed a damaged Wellington bomber. On 12 December, Sottotenente Ruggero Caporali and Sergente Rosa from the 91^a Squadriglia’s alarm section at T4 claimed a damaged Blenheim. 

Rosa ended the war with 3 shared biplane victories. Biplane victories: 3 shared destroyed, 2 shared damaged. 
TOTAL: 3 shared destroyed, 2 shared damaged.