Reggiane Re.2005 in Ploesti ?

Does anybody have information, pictures regarding the use of Reggiane fighters Re.2005 in Ploesti ?

They were particular as they had an elliptical wing and they were powered by a DB605.

According to hisotrical information there should have been max. 10

:| where do you have the info from ? Was it from USAF pilots who claimed shooting down italian fighters above Ploiesti ?

Big NO


No Reggiane or other italian fighters were used for Ploesti (or Romania) defence.

This info is only in american after combat reports, many times the romanian planes were mistaken with italian fighters :

IAR 38-39 with Fiat CR 42
IAR 80-81 with Fiat G-50
Bf 109 E with Macchi 202
Bf 109 G with Reggiane 2005 or Macchi 205

Also some germans Bf 109 G with roket launcher written in reports as Reggiane 2001.

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on May 09, 2006 07:43 am

Below are the comments of Mr. J. R. Busley (P-51 pilot from31FG) regarding how difficult was to recognize the planes in romanian sky ( from the mission of 21 april'44)

"Yes I rember 4/21/44 ! It was my 4th mission & my first encounter w/ "enemy" aircraft.
I was flying wing to Happy Jack Felton & we all were milling around trying to get a shot & keep from
being on the receiving end.
No fighter tactics envolved. I was able to get a 3/4 radius lead on a plane& after a brief burst I noticed strikes in the
cockpit area & aft. Jack &Lt. Harmeyer reported plane parts & poss. part of the rudder departed.
The plane rolled over & out of control disappeared in the clouds below.
Since it was not observed to crash it was declared a probable destroyed.
At debriefing I described the plane as appearing to have landing gear covers like a Seversky P35 ,
but had an inline engine & wasn't chunky like a P35.
Some of the pilots from that flew in N. Africa
thought the protrusion under the wing was extra armament on a 109.
As a compromise it was called a RE 2001, which didn't make much sense.
I think it was a 109 & in retrospect the "gear covers" could have been extra armanent or the radiator
which appeared larger than I remembered from photos.

John R. Busley "


And below is the answer for this confusion between Bf 109 and Regiane 2001 in Busley report:

On 21 aprill '44 took off ( from Mizil airfield ) to defend Ploesti,
german Bf 109 unit III./JG 77 with 3 stafells (squadrons) 7./JG77, 8./JG 77 & 9./JG 77.
Squadron 7./JG 77 had Bf 109 G6 with basic armaments (one canon and two machine gun in the nose) and
their task was to engage fighters and protect the heavily armed BF 109 attacking bombers.
Squadron 8./ 77 had their Bf-109 (beside their basic armaments) suplementary armed
with two rocket launcher under wings.Their task was to fire rockets salvo in to the bomber formations.
Squadron 9.77 had their Bf 109 suplementary armed with two 20 mm canons in underwing pods.
Their task was also to attack bombers.
On 21 april'44, 8./JG 77 lost two planes. One Bf 109G-6 (Wnr 20161) flown by Uffz. Johanes Grasel crashed
north of Popesti village (pilot KIA) and Bf 109 G-6 (Wnr 760085) "black 5"
flown by Uffz. Karl Richter shot down 30Km NW from Bucharest. The pilot wounded escaped with parachute.
Both planes were armed with rocket tubes under wings (similar in shape with Seversky wheel covers)
One of this two was the "Re-2001" claimed as probably destroyed in Lt.Busley report for 21 april'44.



" Yes I now believe subject plane was a 109 w/ rocket launch tubes & the air space between the tubes & wing would not have been noticed in the heat of battle.

John.R.Busley "

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on May 08, 2006 08:50 am

Hi Tanze,

According to what "historical information"? I have several French, Romanian and English language books and articles on Romanian aircraft in WWII and none mention any Reggiane aircraft in Romanian hands.

Cheers,

Sid.

I think it's an old wive's tale because I have read old books which stated that the Germans confiscated Re. 2005s from Italy and used them in Romania but there so far isn't any real proof.

Dear all,

thank you very much for your information.

Infact some italian books were talking about the presence of 1-10 aircrafts in Ploesti but not providing much information.

The only strange thing is how could pilots make mistakes between an elliptical wing based aircraft like a P-35 or Reggiane, and a Bf109 if they could even see clearly details like landing gear covers.
Probably it was the heat o the battle.

More strange is to mistake a P-51 Mustang with Bf 109. Often US pilots (P-38 and P-51) and B-17, B-24 gunners shoot in P-51

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on May 12, 2006 09:54 am