Regia Aeronautica aircraft at Maritsa airfield, Rodos island, by Massimo Mometti
Aircraft wrecks, WW2 in Greece, WW2 WrecksBy Pierre Kosmidis
Photos submitted to www.ww2wrecks.com by Massimo Mometti and used by permission
Mr. Massimo Mometti, from Italy, has a series of photos of his father, who served with the Regia Aeronautica, the Italian Royal Air Force, in Rodos island, during World War 2.
Mr. Mometti’s father was base at the Maritsa airfield.
Maritsa airfield is located 14 km south west of the capital city of Rhodes, near the village of Maritsa.
The airfield was built in 1938 during the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese as a base for the Regia Aeronautica and was called Aeroporto di Maritsa “G.Pessi Parvis” and its Italian airport code was 801.
It housed a squadron of Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 and a squadron of Fiat CR.32 biplane fighters.
In 1940, during World War 2, it was bombed by the British Royal Air Force but stayed under Italian control until the Dodecanese Campaign, when it fell under German control.
In September 1942 it was a target, along with the Italian airfield at Kalathos, of Operation Anglo.
This was a combined British and Greek Commando operation which successfully destroyed at least 20 Italian aircraft at Maritsa.
After the war, it became the main airport for the island until 1977, when the new Rhodes International Airport was opened.
