Reggiane Re 2005 Sagittario Background

The following information was written by Max Cappone, who has researched Italian aircraft extensively and been kind enough to share information relevant to Reggiane aircraft. Other than converting it to HTML, no changes have been made.

The scenario

Having a look to Reggiane history you could think about a mad story. The behaviour of the protagonists seems to absolutely irrational, inexplicable. To better understand we need to have a look to the northern Italy of the period Autumn 1943 - Springtime 1945. Of course it will be a very laconic description: a serious analisys would need a lot of books. The few words that follows want just be a track, a flash. Industrial activity in the North of Italy was in above mentionned period deeply affected from different factors connected mainly to military, political and economical aspects.

After the armistice the italian military forces disbanded. A part remained as a military structure to the south and soon became Cobelligerant fighting with the Allied. A part of Army, Navy and Air Force rechead the partisan (Albania, Jugoslavia, Poland, Greece and Albania), other soldiers reached the mountains being the first part of the future liberation army in Italy. Nevertheless the most of italian soldiers were deported in the sadly famous german concentration camps. Having lost their status of P.O.W. their had no rights (International Red Cross too was not allowed to take care of them). As a republican fascist gouvernment was established an attempt to create a republican army. One of the potential sources was the italian prisoner in Germany. Few of them accepted to exchange freedom in change of repudiating the oath of fidelity to the King. Just four division could be created in that way. The other remained in concentration camps: few of them survived.

The Fascist Republican Gouvernment had to fight daily in order to obtain a true political and military authonomy from the german ally. The main problem was due to the fact that the F.R.G. was compelled to depend from Germany for the most of military stuffs and the behaviour of Germany was not so friendly. The far north east of Italy had been annexed to the Third Reich, the north east was de factu a german protectorate and the final meaning was to absorbe the fascist republican armed forces in the german army with the status of italian legions. Another anxious aspect was the existence of a lot of very "special" police forces: Gestapo, SS from german side and Ufficio Politico (Political Departement of State Police), Brigate Nere (Fascist Republican Party police), Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana (National Republican Ward replacing the disbanded Carabinieri and depending from the F.R.G.), autonomous polices forces (Carità gang, Kock gang and other). From the other side there was the partisan liberation army that was more and more stronger while the third element was consituted by the allied armies.

Being a fascist meant that you could not be sure to be alive at the end of the day; it was quite usual that a fascist was shot by partisan middle of the road. Being a partisan was even worse: no pity if caught alive, just torture and the fire squad while few lucky were sent to concentration (or extermination) camps in Germany. Being a civilian was not easy at all: they were in the middle and german retaliations were always murderous (old people, women, childs... whole villages...). A suspect or an anonimous denunciation were enough to be executed, deported or simply be one of the many "missing" (more or less than in Chili or Argentina and, of course, a lot of other country of different "political colour"). To the recipe you have to add the daily bombing of the industrial towns, the lack of energy sources and strategical material to operate industrial activity, the money value falling quickly and the impossibility of feeding in a satisfactory way the population. Of course as far the front line was approaching worse the thing were.

In 1944 the german occupation gouvernment decided to move to Germany what of usefull remained of the italian industrial plants.... including workers and technicians, of course as a deportees. That explained the attitude of working of projects that everybody knew having no future (for istance RE 2005 bifusoliera and RE 2006). The german project, perhaps due to the gigantic logistical problem, never succeded but italian industries had to justify their own existence and importance for the strategical effort of Germany. As a side note know that some of Reggiane specialists were "stimulated" to volounteer the maintenance units of Luftwaffe in order to work on requisitioned RE 2002; these people, some of them never got back home, were moved in Germany and in France. Another sistem to save people and things was to decentrate the prodution plants in order to make more difficult to organize the move to Germany.

What happened to Ing. Longhi is a perfect example of the situation. The following is from the article written by Longhi himself for Air Enthusiat Quarterly n. 2 of 1976.
"...The prototype Re 2006 fighter was completed in February 1944, but the local partisan leader, Lionello, forbade us to test the aeroplane, assuring us that his partisan would blow it up if we made any attempt to fly it. We had therefore to dream up a variety of reason for failing to initiate a flight test programme and I was, in fact, arrested by the Fascist for what they were undoubtedly aware were delaying tactics, but was to be released soon afterwards on the direct orders of the German commander as I was engaged on ‘priority work for the Third Reich’."
Other people have not been so lucky....

• Max C.A. Cappone
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