Capronis shot down over the Baltic Sea

On June 13, 1952, Soviet MiG-15s shot down a Swedish DC-3 returning from a SIGINT flight, and three days later the Soviets shot down a Swedish Catalina that was searching for survivors from the downed DC-3. The Soviets denied shooting down the DC-3, the Swedes claimed that the flight had been a navigational training flight, and Swedish media took an anti-Soviet stance. However, the Swedish Air Force (SwAF) did have a fairly long tradition of flying very close to or downright violating other countries’ airspace, and in 1944 this led to the shooting down of three Swedish Caproni reconnaissance aircraft.

The SwAF was in sad shape when the Second World War broke out in 1939, and there was an intense search for new aircraft to purchase. For obvious reasons most nations in Europe as well as the United States had little interest in exporting aircraft, and the SwAF hafd to make do with what was available. This included the Italian Caproni Ca.313 reconnaissance bomber (Ricognizione Piccolo Bombardamento), and Sweden ordered 84 of these aircraft for use as bombers, reconnaissance aircraft and transports. Their Swedish designations were B 16, S 16 and Tp 16, respectively.      

 Caproni Ca.313 in Swedish service (flyghistoria.org).

The Capronis spent five unhappy years in the SwAF between 1940 and 1945. In all 41 aviators were killed while flying this aircraft and 21 Capronis were destroyed in accidents, earning it the nickname “The Flying Coffin.” The Caproni was so remarkably accident-prone that SwAF General Nils Söderberg suspected that the aircraft had been sabotaged, since they were originally intended for export to France. The calamities were actually caused by several factors, including bad manufacturing from low-quality materials, diluted fuel due to wartime restrictions, exposure to seasonal variations that the aircraft wasn’t designed for, excessive use of the airframes themselves and general misuse, including attempts to use the Caproni as a dive bomber.   

In all 40 Capronis were used as reconnaissance aircraft, and they were equipped with long-range fuel tanks as well as three cameras: a high altitude camera, an obliquely-mounted overview camera and a hand-held camera. They were arguably the first long-range reconnaissance aircraft in SwAF service, and they were based at two wings, F3 at Malmslätt and F11 at Nykӧping. The Capronis flew reconnaissance mission around most of Sweden, ranging from the Arctic to the Baltic Sea and Skagerrak, and at least one mission was flown to the immediate vicinity of the German rocket research facility at Peenemünde. On August 28, 1943, there was Swedish concern of a possible German invasion, and a Caproni from F11 flew from Everӧd in southern Sweden to carry out reconnaissance of several German harbors. Besides obvious domestic use, it may be reasonable to assume that photographs taken during such missions would be excellent to barter with the western Allies’ intelligence organizations, a precursor to the exchanges of intelligence that would lead to the demise of the DC-3 in 1952.

 Aerial photograph of the German rocket site at Peenemünde taken by a Caproni crew from F11

(f11museum.se).

The reconnaissance missions were intensified during the Fall of 1943, and the Germans were in all likelihood aware of the SwAF efforts. As the Swedish attitude became increasingly pro-Allied, patience with the Swedish flights may have been lost. On May 14, 1944, a Caproni from F11 was shot down by two Messerschmitt Bf 109Gs off the coast of Lithuania. One crew member was killed, and the three others were rescued by a German steamer. The next day, May 15, saw the disappearance of yet another Caproni close to the location where the first one was lost. A few days later, the German authorities admitted to shooting down a Caproni on May 14. They claimed that the Swedish aircraft was mistaken for a Soviet aircraft when attacked from above, and that the Swedish markings were only seen as the aircraft crashed. The Germans did use the opportunity to scold the Swedes for flying close to the Baltic coast during times of war, even if they remained over international water. There was no admitting to shooting down a plane on May 15, but refugees from the Baltic states later told the Swedish authorities that they had seen German aircraft shoot down a Swedish aircraft. The crew was never recovered. Swedish protests on May 27 did lead to the repatriation of the three surviving crew members from the Caproni that was shot down on May 14. Yet another Caproni, this time a bomber from F7 Såtenäs, disappeared in the Skagerrak area on May 23. Parts from the Caproni were found by Danish fishermen in 1951, and the parts did show both bullet holes and burns.

Although the camouflage of the Capronis differed quite a bit from the Soviet green or gray aircraft of that era, Swedish aircraft did not carry national markings on top of their wings until June of 1944. The SwAF did change their tactics, and individual missions were not flown. The frequency of the reconnaissance missions was also decreased, at least until the end of the Second World War.

Sources:

Giorgio Apostolo. Caproni Ca,311/314. Torino: La Bancarella Aeronautica, 2007

<flyghistoria.org>

<silvervingar.se>

<f11museum.se>

<weaponsandwarfare.com>

Calling names - the Origin of Gook

Dehumanizing the enemy is part of many, if not most, conflicts throughout the history of mankind, and using derogatory names is part of such efforts. In some cases such names may not be seen as serious pejoratives, such as calling Germans "Fritz" or British fighting the Americans referring to the latter as "Cousin Jonathan", but when racial differences are added to the cultural differences, name-calling rapidly changes into full-forced slurs and bigotry. The term “gook” is indeed derogatory, but it has nevertheless been used quite a bit during the 20th century. It has become well-known outside military circles through both film and literature about the wars of the last century in general and the Vietnam War in particular.

As so often happens, it is difficult to determine exactly when this word came into use.  It has been claimed that the word was initially used by U.S. Marines fighting in the Moro Rebellion (1899-1913 and unconnected to the Philippine-American war of 1899-1902), and that the word was influenced by the word “gugu”, which in turn supposedly is derived from the bark of the “gu-gu” tree that was used by Filipino women to wash their hair. Another, perhaps more reasonable, explanation states that the term is derived from the attempts of American soldiers to mimic languages spoken by the Filipinos, languages that derisively described as “dog languages”. The languages were ridiculed and infantilized as being “goo-goo” or “gugu”, and this evolved into “gook” in a process not unlike ancient Greeks referring to non-Greek speech sounding like “bar-bar.” Claude F. Line, a young private in the Philippines at the time, wrote in a letter home not only of his love of home and family, but also his delight at terrifying two Filipino civilians: “They were the first goo-goos I ever saw turn white." It should be noted that the U.S. involvement in the Philippines also led to the Tagalog word “bundok” being assimilated into American English as the word “boondocks.”

A Moro tribesman during the turn of the previous century (<www.savageandsoldier.com/articles/asia/Moro.html>)

Filipinos were thus referred to as “gooks”, and the term traveled on with the Marines to Nicaragua in 1912, with the local Nicaraguans also being referred to as “gooks”.  When Marines deployed to Haiti in 1915, the word “gook” was once again used for local inhabitants.

However, in 1893, the word “gook” was already to be found in a dictionary, and it was described as a “low prostitute”, synonymous with “barrack hack” and “tart”, and since the Philippines were Spanish possessions up to 1898, the term predates any U.S. military involvement. Could it be that the term had traveled over to the United States via commercial links with the Philippines or some other region in Asia and that the term was already used by merchant mariners before the U.S. involvement in the Philippines to connect contempt for natives with contempt for "promiscuous" women?

The term “gook: was apparently used up to the Second World War in various, primarily Asian, theaters of war, but more specific ethnic slurs such as “nip” or “chink” seem to have been preferred by U.S. servicemen. Gook was also used as derogatory term for North African Arabs, and the term may have lived on in the French community during the Algerian War (1954-1962).

(waeguk.com)

The Korean War did however bring back “gook” with full force into the American military slang. The Korean the term for foreigner or alien is “waeguk-saram” or just “waegukin.” It has been claimed that when U.S. servicemen were addressed as “waegukin” this was interpreted as “we gooks”, and thus the word “gook” was re-discovered as a derogatory term early in the conflict. The use rapidly became so widespread that General Douglas MacArthur gave orders that term be discontinued since it “gave "aid and comfort to the enemy" by calling into question the U.S. commitment to democratic ideals. Official U.S. sources later stated that the term wasn’t used by U.S. soldiers later on in the war, but that is, of course, far from the truth.

With her brother on her back a war weary Korean girl tiredly trudges by a stalled M-26 tank, at Haengju, Korea., 06/09/1951
Item from Record Group 80: General Records of the Department of the Navy, 1804 - 1983

With many Korean War veterans still in service when the Vietnam War escalated, the word “gook” once again came into use as a derogatory term for Vietnamese. With the Vietnam War being part of mainstream media and popular culture, “gook” has been heard in any number of circumstances. In 2000, Senator John McCain referred to his wartime experience while attempting to apologize to the Vietnamese community at large by stating that “I hate the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live… I was referring to my prison guards and I will continue to refer to them in language that might offend.”

Sources:

Dirk deRoos. Lightning from the Clouds: The U.S. Army and the Moro Wars. <www.savageandsoldier.com/articles/asia/Moro.html>

               John S. Farmer and W. E. Henley. Slang and its analogues, past and present. A dictionary,

 historical and comparative, of the heterodox speech of all classes of society for more than three hundred

 years. With synonyms in English, French, German Italian etc. 

1893 <www.archive.org/stream/slangitsanalogue03farmuoft/slangitsanalogue03farmuoft_djvu.txt>

Robert G. Kaiser. Friend or Foe, He’s still A GOOK. St. Petersburg Times, October 20, 1969. <http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9fwNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-nsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7218,7089053&dq=gook>

 

Jason Ma. McCain Apologizes for ‘Gook’ Comment. Asiaweek, February 24, 2000

 

Jason Renshaw. The Korean notion of “waeguk-saram” (foreigner). October 1, 2009. <http://jasonrenshaw.typepad.com/jason_renshaws_web_log/2009/10/the-korean-notion-of-waeguksaram-foreigner.html>

 

David Roediger. Gook: The Short History of an Americanism. Monthly Review, 1992, Volume 43, Issue 10 (March) <http://www.davidroediger.org/articles/gook-the-short-history-of-americanism.html>

 

Raymond Leon Roker. How Come McCain’s “Gook” Slur Isn’t Bigger News? Huffington Post, October 20, 2008

Soldiers Revive ‘Gook’ as a Name for Korea Reds. Los Angeles Times, August 6, 1950.

 

Waeguk Blog. <waeguk.com>

 

<www.archives.gov/research/military/korean-war>

 

 

 

 

 

Estonian Vintage

It would seem unlikely that tankers of the Second World War would dare to engage the enemy in the buckets of bolts that were the tanks of World War One,  but this may very well have happened when the Soviet forces retreating from Tallinn in 1941 left two dug in World War One Mark V tanks to hold off the Wehrmacht.

The Mark V tank was a World War One-era rhomboid vehicle, although it started out as an entirely new type of tank. However, when the engine and transmission intended for the Mark IV became available in December of 1917, it was decided to use the same assembly lines, and the resulting Mark V was essentially an improved Mark IV. Also, the epicyclic gear steering system invented by a Walter Wilson made this the first British tank that required only one man to steer the vehicle. It also had a more powerful 150 hp Ricardo engine than its predecessors. The Mark V tank was originally built in 200 "male" versions with a 6lb guns in the left and the right sponson and 200 "female" versions which were armed with machine guns. Several were also converted to "Mark V Composites" or "hermaphrodites" with one gun and one machine gun sponson. An additional machine gun was fitted to the rear of the hull on all versions. The Mark V tank was initially deployed during the Battle of Hamel on July 4, 1918, when 60 tanks took part in a successful Australian assault on the German lines.

Following World War One, approximately 70 Mark V tanks were brought to Russia by the Western forces intervening on behalf of the White side in the Russian Civil War, and they were also used by British forces in the North Russia Campaign. Several were eventually captured by the Red Army, and in 1921 Mark V tanks were used by the Soviet forces invading Georgia. The Mark V tanks did contribute to the Soviet victory in the Battle of Tbilisi.

The young state of Estonia had initially requested tanks from the Western Allies following the end of World War One, but the Allies feared that Estonia would be defeated by the Soviet Union, and thus refused. However, the fortunes of war did provide Estonia with armored vehicles when the White Northwestern Army under General Nikolai Yudenich was overpowered by the Red Army following operation Whire Sword, a planned advance on Petrograd. The Northwestern Army was forced to retreat towards its ally Estonia, and it was dissolved at the end of 1919. At that time, the commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, Johan Laidoner, was given permission to take over the tanks of the Northwestern Army, and Estonia became the proud owners of four Mark V and two Renault FT tanks. On November 26, 1919, daily order no. 777 tasked Captain Hans Vanaveski with forming and organizing a training unit referred to as a Tank Class that was to be placed under the command of the commander of the Reserve Forces. The Mark V tanks were eventually re-formed into a heavy tank company.

Mark V tanks in Estonia, probably during the 1920s.

The Mark V was used by Estonian Army during the inter-war years, as were two other Mark V tanks acquired by the Latvian Army. When the Soviet Union annexed the Baltic States in 1940, the arms and the equipment of respective nation's armed forces were added to the Red Army. In February 1941, the Estonian heavy tank company was amalgamated by the Red Army, and all of the tanks were found to be in poor condition. The Red Army did not have railway cars suitable for transporting the Mark V tanks, so they were left behind in a warehouse near Tallinn and almost forgotten. By August that same year, the Wehrmacht was approaching, and the Mark Vs were taken out of storage and deployed in emplacements along a defensive line on the Pirita River to cover the Soviet retreat. The vehicles may have been re-equipped with up to seven machine guns as well as Soviet 45mm guns in at least one sponson. It is also not known if these venerable vehicles actually saw combat against the Wehrmacht, and the prospect of facing the advancing German Army in World War One-era tanks sounds grim indeed. The tanks were captured by the Germans, and probably brought back to Germany to be melted down. The fate of the two Latvian Mark V tanks is not known.

Mark V tank in its emplacement after being captured by the Wehrmacht.

German soldiers examining captured Mark V tank, possibly after being towed out of an emplacement.

It should be noted that Soviet Forces came across two badly damaged Mark V tanks, one composite and one female, during the Battle of Berlin, but these tanks were survivors of the Russian Civil War that had been on display in Smolensk before being transported to Germany. It is not known whether these vehicles played any combat role in the Battle of Berlin. 

A Mark V tank in Berlin after the war.

The two Mark V tanks in front of the cathedral in Smolensk

Shot down before your wedding

With special thanks to Thorleif Persson for supplying primary source materials!

Sometime during the beginning of April 1941, the chief editor of the Swedish newspapaer Stockholms-Tidningen, Bӧrje Brilioth, received a letter from a Gunnar D. Kumlien, a Swedish journalist reporting from Rome. The letter contained an informal request for information concerning the fate of Sottotenente (Lieutenant) Niccolò Cobolli Gigli, a pilot in the Italian Air Force, the Regia Aeronautica Italiana. According to the letter, Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli had served in a fighter unit in Albania. His unit had encountered a group of “Spitfires on March 4 between 2:30 and 3:30” and Cobolli Gigli had been shot down in flames “in the Kimara [today’s Himarë] sector off the Albanian coast on the Greek side of the lines.” The chief editor was now kindly asked to inquire with editor Carl Cederschiӧld of the Swedish Red Cross Commission to Greece in Athens as to the whereabouts of the Italian aviator.

Asking about an Italian aviator shot down in the Balkans via contacts in Sweden may not seem like the most direct course of action, but Niccolò Cobolli Gigli was the son of Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli, the former Fascist Minister of Public Works between 1935 and 1939 and now the President of Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli  (AGIP), the leading Italian petroleum company of the era. Niccolò was therefore directly related to one of the members of the Fascist aristocracy, and Giuseppe was in turn friendly with Kumlien: that Easter, Niccolò was to marry Gladys Persichetti, the cousin of Kumliens wife. Kumlien was now hoping that Brilioth, who was seen as an Axis sympathizer, would be able to call in a favor with Cederschiӧld in Athens and find out what had happened to Niccolò from the Allies while avoiding the arbitrary Greek censorship.

In the beginning of March 1941 the Italian Armed Forces in the Balkans were in a most unhappy state. Benito Mussolini had invaded Greece on October 28, 1940, with a 162,000 men strong force deployed in Albania, which was an Italian possession since 1939. Mussolini anticipated a swift victory, but the Greeks would have nothing of the sort. Greek General Papagos put up a fierce defense, and some 5,000 prisoners were taken by the Greeks when they defeated the Italian 3rd Alpini Division in the Pindus Mountains. A Greek counter-offensive was eventually launched from south and east of Albania, and on November 22 the Greeks defeated the Italian IX Army and captured Koritsa. The Greek advance continued, but it was finally halted by late January 1941, and a stalemate was reached, although almost half of Albania was in Greek hands. However, the Italian forces were planning a spring offensive, Operation Primavera, for March 9. 

Sottotenente Niccolò Cobolli Gigli was born on October 30, 1918 in Turin, and he may very well have been named after his paternal grandfather, Nicolò Cobol, an elementary school teacher and outdoorsman in Capodistria (today’s Koper in Slovenia). The grandfather was possibly named Nicolaus Combol in German, which was widely spoken in Istria at the time.

Niccolò’s father, Giuseppe, was originally an irredentist before joining the Fascist party in 1919, and Niccolò was one of three brothers, the other two being named Sergio and Antongiulio. Sergio served the Fascist state as a Marine based on an anti-submarine vessel, while Antongiulio served as an officer in the Army, where he would be wounded during the fighting in Russia. Niccolò joined the Air Force, and in 1941 he was probably recently deployed to Albania with the 355.a Squadriglia of the 24° Gruppo Autonomo based in Tirana since October 1940. The unit had originally been tasked with defending Sardinian ports with elderly Fiat CR.32 biplanes as part of the 52° Stormo, but it had since become an autonomous unit as well as being re-equipped with Fiat G.50 monoplanes and tasked with escorting bombers and transport aircraft. The 355.a Squadriglia was commanded by Capitano Ettore Foschini, a Spanish Civil War veteran with one victory who would eventually down five additional enemy aircraft over the Balkans while flying the Fiat CR. 42. The unit was initially deployed to Albania on October 28, 1940, also as an autonomous Squadriglia, before joining the 24° Gruppo Autonomo in March of 1941. It is not clear whether this amalgamation had occurred before Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli was shot down, but the units were in all likelihood stationed at the same airfield in Tirana.

Giuseppe Cobolli Gigli

The Regio Aeronautica had spent the fall of 1940 engaging the Greek Air Force, and by the end of the year the small Greek fighter force was severely depleted, although the bomber force remained fairly intact. But reinforcements were on their way, and on November 3, the first Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft arrived in theatre. RAF Blenheim IF fighters flew their first patrol on November 4, 1940, and these aircraft were eventually joined by Gloster Gladiators, Hawker Hurricanes and Vickers Wellington bombers. The air battles over Greece and Albania intensified as winter turned into spring.

 Ettore Foschini (third from left) with fellow pilots near Stalino in May 1942 (http://forum.gp.dn.ua) 

 

During the morning of March 4, 1941, the Italian Navy sortied down the Albanian coast with a force composed of the cruiser Augusto Riboty, the destroyer Andromeda and three motor torpedo boats. This task force was escorted by Fiat G.50 bis and CR.42 fighters from the 24° Gruppo as they proceeded to shell the coastal road near Himarë and Porto Palermo, a stretch of approximately four miles in southern Albania. The RAF was aware of the Italian activity, and they immediately tasked 15 Blenheims with attacking the vessels. An escort was provided by ten Hurricanes and seventeen Gladiators. The forces were composed as follows:

·         nine Blenheims from 211 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Gordon-Finlayson

·         five Blenheims from 84 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Jones (one Blenheim failed to start)

·         six Hurricanes from 33 Squadron

·         four Hurricanes from 80 Squadron led by ace Flight Lieutenant Marmaduke Thomas St. John “Pat” Pattle, possibly the RAFs top-scoring pilot of the war

·         fourteen Gladiators from 112 Squadron

·         three Gladiators from 80 Squadron

The Italian ships were spotted approximately ten miles south of Vlorë at 3 PM, and the bombers attacked from line astern. Several near misses were noted, but no hits. Just as the Blenheims completed their bomb runs, six G.50bis bounced the Hurricanes, and Hurricane V7801 piloted by Warrant Officer Harry J. Goodchild was shot down in flames. Unfortunately for the Italians, they did not spot the Blenheims, as the RAF force was reported as “ten Spitfires, three Battles and twenty Gladiators.” As soon as the Blenheims started their return flights, the Hurricanes were ordered by Pattle to patrol the airspace above the Italian warships and engage enemy aircraft. A lone G.50bis attacked Pattle and his wingman Flying Officer Nigel Cullen in Hurricane V7288, but it was promptly shot down by Pattle just north of Himarë. Then a second G.50bis bounced Cullen, in turn shooting him down. Cullen’s Hurricane also crashed near Himarë. Following these engagements, the Hurricanes proceeded towards Vlorë, Yet another G.50bis was claimed by Pattle and then a third, which crashed in flames into the Vlorë harbor.

At this point in time nine Fiat CR.42s were seen below the Hurricanes, and the RAF pilots attacked right away. One of the CR.42s was hit by Pattle seen spinning down with smoke trailing from the engine. This was reported as a “probable.” Another Hurricane piloted by Sergeant Edward Hewett claimed one G.50bis and three out of eight CR.42s, all near Vlorë. Finally, Pilot Officer William Vale also claimed a G.50bis. The pilots of the Gladiators had also been busy, reporting combat with ten G.50bis and five CR.42s, with two claimed as being shot down, four “probables”, and another four damaged. The actions of March 4 led to Pattle being awarded a Bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).

The surviving pilots of the 24° Gruppo claimed four Gladiators, one Spitfire and one Battle. Their losses included one aircraft from the 354.a Squadriglia piloted by Sergente Marcello De Salvia shot down and one CR.42 piloted by Tenente Francesco Rocca damaged and the pilot wounded. The 355.a Squadriglia lost one CR.42. This was in all likelihood the aircraft of Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli, an aircraft that may have been one of the the CR.42s reported as being by the Hurricanes, which indicated that Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli was shot down by either Flight Lieutenant Pattle or Sergeant Hewett.

Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli did not get to marry Gladys Persichetti that Easter. He may have parachuted out of his burning CR. 42, but he did not survive to return to the Italian lines or to become a prisoner of war. Whether this was due to injuries, enemy ground troops or some other reason is not known, but he was posthumously awarded the Silver Medal on November 7, 1941, and the Gold Medal on January 28, 1943. According to the dedication of the Gold Medal, Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli was a “Pilot of exceptional valor, a trusty and faithful comrade and a tenacious and aggressive fighter who helped shoot down several enemy aircraft. While fighting superior enemy forces he sped to the rescue of a wingman who was outnumbered…his last generous gesture was worthy of the noble boldness that characterized his life.”

*

Operation Primavera was launched by the Italians, but the results were less than impressive. Germany had offered to assist the Italians for some time, but Mussolini had refused. Hitler’s patience did run out after seeing that his southern flank could not be protected by the Italians. The German Wehrmacht invaded the Balkans on April 6, and Allied resistance in mainland Greece had ceased by April 30.

There is a path named after Niccolò’s grandfather, the Sentiero Niccolò Cobolli, that leads up to the Roman Catholic Temple of Monte Grisa, which is located on the edge of the Karst plateau just north of Trieste, close to the place where Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli lies buried in an Italian military cemetery. This is at times forgotten, and in November 2007 the Italian consul in Koper neglected his annual duty of placing a wreath at the cemetery, since the sons of Koper had been awarded in all five Gold Medals for Italy. The Italian Foreign Ministry considered the issue to be of grave concern, pointing out that ceremonies to the fallen Italians have been conducted since 1964. Hopefully the consul has been more diligent since.

It should also be mentioned that the wife-to-be of Sottotenente Cobolli Gigli did eventually marry to become the Countess Gladys Persichetti della Zonca, and she emigrated to Brazil in 1946. She moved back to Italy at some point later in her life, and passed away in 2008. She was survived by three children and another three grandchildren, one who is named Niccolò.

Pilots of 80 Squadron in early 1941 somewhere in Greece.
(Left to right) Sergeant Edward Hewett, Pilot Officer William Vale, Flying Officer P. T. Dowding, Flying Officer F. W. Hosken, Flying Officer Trevor-Roper (84 Squadron), Flight Lieutenant "Pat" Pattle, Flying Officer Flower and Pilot Officer J. Lancaster (Håkans Aviation Page)

Sources:

Mario Cervi. The Hollow Legions. Mussolini’s Blunder in Greece 1940-1941. New York: Doubleday, 1971

Chris Dunning. Courage Alone. The Italian Air Force 1940-1943. Manchester: Crècy Publishing, 2009

Giovanni Massimello and Giorgio Apostolo. Italian Aces of World War 2. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2000

Alexis Mehtidis. Air War over Greece and Albania 1939-1941. Garberville: Titger Lily Books, 2008

Christopher Shores and Brian Cull with Nicola Malizia. Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete 1940-41. London: Grub Street, 1987

Vem är det? Svensk biografisk handbook. Stockholm: P. A. Norstedt & Söners Förlag, 1977

Håkans Aviation Page. http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/index.html

Il Messaggero, February 14, 2010

Handlingar rörande Svenska Greklandskommissionen 1940-1949