Extract From An Italian Report
At 08:18 on 27 September 1941 an Italian reconnaissance aircraft spotted a carrier and seven unidentified ships west of La Galite. Towards noon, the Comando Aeronautica della Sardegna received the following message from a Cant Z.506 (triple-engine float-plane) of 287a Squadriglia (Sottotente Giovanni Del Vento in MM45252):"At 37°43' – 8°55' - route 90° - speed 12 nm per hour: 1 battleship, 1 carrier, 4 cruiser, unspecified number of destroyers and steamboats. At 37°55' - 8°45' - route 90° - speed 18 nm per hours: 3 cruisers"
At 13.20 the S.79s (torpedo-bombers) of the 130 Gruppo, escorted by twelve fighters, had spotted the enemy. The formation split up to perform an attack from various directions: the 280 and the 282 Squadriglia from north, the 283 Squadriglia from south, the 278 Squadriglia and Tenente Deslex from west. Before they could attack, they were chased by six Fulmars. The 280 Squadriglia’s Melley and Setti believed to have shared a hit on a light cruiser (HMS Lightning), which had a narrow miss.
At 13.58 the north-coming torpedo-bombers, partially covered by bad weather, surprised the enemy. Tenente Deslex tried to attack HMS Ark Royal at sea level, but was shot down by AA fire before having released the torpedo. Then Venturini and Bucceri attacked HMS Ark Royal and HMS Cossack missing both. Soon after they were chased for 20 minutes by Ark Royal's Fairey Fulmars, which killed Venturini's radio operator.
At 13.59 in an attempt to distract the anti-aircraft gunners, Sergente Maggiore Luigi Valiotti, flying a Fiat CR.42 of 354 Squadriglia started performing aerobatics over the heads of the astounded ships gunners, who after a while started to shoot at him. He lasted six minutes before he was shot down and killed. Further attacks were unable to get through the anti-aircraft barrage, and the Italian aircraft flew back to base, landing at 15.50 pursued by the Ark Royal's Fulmars, which strafed the airfield at Cagliari (Sardinia), damaging ten seaplanes and causing three casualties.
A first hand account by George Gilroy of HMS Lightning describes the loss of Valiotti: "I remember at one stage during an attack a Fiat fighter performing stunts over the convoy; some said that it was trying to divert attention from the incoming torpedo bombers. However, we shot him down".
Read more about this topic: Operation Halberd
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