Ascari del Cielo

[1] After four weeks of training was launched simultaneously the entire battalion outside "Castel Benito airport" with the use of 24 three-engined Savoia-Marchetti SM.81, belonging to the 15º Stormo of the Italian Air Force.

[3] In the summer of 1940 the Ascari del Cielo were nicknamed "Diavoli neri" (Black devils) and numbered 500.

In September, during the Italian invasion of Egypt, the 1st Paratroopers Regiment "Fanti dell'Aria" assaulted the positions of the Coldstream Guards in Sollum and forced them to withdraw.

[4] In January 1941, with the beginning of the British counter-offensive, the Ascari del Cielo were renamed Gruppo Mobile Tonini.

[5]By February 1941 they nearly cease to exist as an effective combat force after the British offensive during Operation Compass.