In August 1941, Mussolini decided to join the German invasion of the USSR and Italy deployed ground and air units to the theater. The air component initially consisted of a strengthened fighter group, plus a light bomber/recon group and some transport aircraft. Macchi MC.200 was their main fighter plane and the Italian pilots, some of them Spanish Civil War veterans did well against Soviet I-15s and I-16s, the planes they knew quite well from that conflict. But weather and increasing quality of Soviet Air Force would soon make things more challenging. In the first part, you can see the analysis of the period between August 1941 and May 1942.

Check out Patrick Cloutier's book - Mussolini's War in the East
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0923WJ4K8

Main sources:
- Gianni Cattaneo - Aircraft Profile No. 64: The Macchi C.200
https://amzn.to/44Rz6z9
- Christopher Shores - Regia Aeronautica, Vol. 1: A Pictorial History of the Italian Air Force 1940-1943
- BREVE STORIA DEL CORPO AEREO ITALIANO IN RUSSIA 1941-1943 - di Alberto Rosselli
http://web.tiscali.it/warbirds/warbir...

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The Ice Giants by Kevin MacLeod
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