A native of Rome, Marco Mattioli has been interested in military history since he was a teenager. In 1992 he joined the Italian National Journalist Order, after which he was employed as a writer for several leading Italian history publishers. A contributor to many important Italian history and defence magazines, as well as the author of a number of books on Italian military aviation, he wrote Osprey Aviation Elite Units 38: 53° Stormo and Osprey Combat Aircraft 106: Savoia-Marchetti S.79 Sparviero Torpedo-Bomber Units.Richard Caruana is a Malta-based artist whose profile artwork is well known, and respected, in aviation modelling periodicals such as Scale Aviation Modelling and Scale Models. He has illustrated all of Osprey Aviation’s Italian World War 2 titles.

• Chapter 1 – Combat debut in SpainChapter 2 – 1940: War against FranceChapter 3 - Sparvieri over Malta and the Mediterranean, 1940-42Chapter 4 – Greece and the Balkans, 1940-41 Chapter 5 – Sparvieri over the Desert, 1940-43Chapter 6 – Over East Africa and Red Sea, 1940-41Chapter 7 - Sparvieri in Transport rolesAppendices: A) S.79 bomber units, B) Awards to Italian S.79 crewmen and notable pilots, C) Allied warships hit by S.79s, D) Allied merchant ships hit by S.79s, E) Colour Plates Commentary

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