In 1946, the monarchy was abolished and the Kingdom of Italy became the Italian Republic, whereupon the name of the air force changed to Aeronautica Militare.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Italy was at the forefront of aerial warfare: during the colonization of Libya in 1911, it made the first reconnaissance flight in history on 23 October, and the first ever bombing raid on 1 November.

During World War I, the Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare, then still part of the Regio Esercito (Royal Army), operated a mix of French fighters and locally built bombers, notably the gigantic Caproni aircraft.

Benito Mussolini's fascist regime turned it into an impressive propaganda machine, with its aircraft, featuring the Italian flag colors across the full span of the undersides of the wings, making numerous record-breaking flights.

[1] Possibly the most brilliant successes were the floatplane world speed record of 709 km/h (440.6 mph) achieved by Francesco Agello in the Macchi-Castoldi MC-72 in October 1934 [2] and the long-range formation flight to the United States and back to Italy in 1933, a total of 19,000 km (11,800 miles) with Savoia-Marchetti S.55 flying boats.

This Decennial Air Cruise included stops in Amsterdam, Derry, Reykjavík, Labrador, Montreal, Chicago, Brooklyn, and Washington D.C., with the highlight being a landing in Lake Michigan in front of Chicago Navy Pier and a procession through the city before crowds of thousands of Americans to coincide with the Century of Progress Exhibition.

However, the Regia Aeronautica lost 72 planes and 122 aircrew[5] while supporting the operations of the Regio Esercito, sometimes dropping poison gas bombs against the Ethiopian army.

The Aviazione legionaria achieved approximately 500 aerial victories, losing 86 aircraft in air combat and about 200 flying personnel.

In reality, only 2000 aircraft were fit for operations, of which just 166 were modern fighters (89 Fiat G.50 Freccias and 77 Macchi MC.200s), both slower than potential opponents as the Hawker Hurricane, the Supermarine Spitfire and the Dewoitine D.520.

[11] The Regia Aeronautica carried out 716 bombing missions, with Italian aircraft dropping a total of 276 tons of bombs on French fortifications, military bases, and airfields (some of the targets being Toulon, Briançon, Traversette, and Cap San Martin); during this short war, Regia Aeronautica lost 10 aircraft in aerial combat and 24 aircrew personnel, while claiming 10 kills and 40 French planes destroyed on the ground.

[14] After the war, there was a widespread rumour in France, especially between Paris and Bordeaux, of Italian aircraft strafing civilian columns, with many people claiming to have seen the tricolour roundels painted on them.

These allegations have been disproved, as the Italian aircraft did not have the range to hit such distant targets and concentrated on short-range military objectives (Regia Aeronautica wing roundels had three fasci littori, having replaced the tricolour ones).

At the beginning of the hostilities, Regia Aeronautica achieved aerial superiority and occasionally skilled Italian pilots, flying their Fiat biplanes, managed to shoot down even the faster and better armed Hawker Hurricane monoplanes.

However, during the first three months, Regia Aeronautica lost 84 aircraft and had 143 aircrew personnel killed and 71 wounded, but the losses did not halt Italian operations.

By 31 January, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, reported that the Italian military forces in East Africa were down to 67 operational aircraft with limited fuel.

The 17 bombing raids carried out by the BR.20s did not cause much material damage, moreover aircraft were needed on the Greek front and in Cyrenaica[22] so in January 1941 the bombers and CR.42s started to be withdrawn to Italy.

[23][24][25] During this campaign, Regia Aeronautica lost 36 planes, (including 26 in accidents) and 43 aircrew personnel, without achieving a single confirmed air victory.

[22] Initially, the Western Desert Campaign was a near equal struggle between the Regia Aeronautica and the British Royal Air Force (RAF).

New Italian aircraft and units were supplemented by the arrival of the German Afrika Korps, and the attached Luftwaffe contingent deployed almost 200 airplanes in Libya and another 600 in Sicily.

Working with the Luftwaffe, the Regia Aeronautica performed better due to the exchange of tactical doctrine and the arrival of more modern aircraft.

During Rommel's second offensive, the Regia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe suffered considerable losses due to stronger Allied resistance during air battles over El Alamein and bombing raids over Alexandria and Cairo.

The Regia Aeronautica, having suffered heavy losses in Egypt, was withdrawn progressively to Tobruk, Benghazi, Tripoli and, eventually, Tunisia.

The Italian airmen started to fear Maltese fighters and AA artillery, so much that the flight to the besieged island became known as the rotta della morte, the "route of death".

However the besieged island managed to withstand the attacks from the Italian and German air forces and claimed almost 1,500 Axis planes,[30] three times the real losses: up to November 1942, the Luftwaffe admitted to losing 357 aircraft and the Regia Aeronautica 210.

For the 11-day campaign against Yugoslavia, the Regia Aeronautica deployed 600 aircraft, claimed five air victories (plus 100 planes destroyed on the ground) and suffered five losses.

By the time of the Tunisian Campaign, the Regia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe rarely enjoyed parity let alone air superiority in North Africa.

The last mission of the Regia Aeronautica before the truce with the Allies was the defence during the United States Army Air Forces' bombings of Frascati and Rome on 8 September 1943.

In northern Italy, the National Republican Air Force (Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, or ANR) flew for the Italian Social Republic and the Axis.

From 10 June 1940 up to 8 September 1943, the Regia Aeronautica lost 6483 aircraft[39] (other sources report 5201[40]), including 3483 fighters, 2273 bombers, torpedo-bombers and transports, plus 227 reconnaissance planes.