Biplane fighter aces

Commonwealth

Lieutenant Thomas ‘Tom’ Condon, SAAF no. 47307V

1918 - 1993

Thomas Condon was born into a poor family in Pretoria West, South Africa, in 1918.

He joined the SAAF as an apprentice welder in 1939

He was later commissioned.

Condon served in 2 SAAF Squadron from 11 November 1940 before being posted to 1 SAAF Squadron on 4 December 1940.

On 27 December, a formation of six CR.42s, led by Tenente Niso Provinciali and composed, among others, of Sottotenente Fiorindo Rosmino, Sottotenente Filippo Sola and Sergente Maggiore Enzo Omiccioli (the last two detached from the 413a Squadriglia), took off at dawn from Góndar to carry out a raid on Gedáref. The Italian fighters were spotted promptly, and at 06:20 Gladiators scrambled from 'Azaza with Captain Gerald Le Mesurier, Lieutenants Leonard le Clues Theron, Condon, E. A. Jarvis and H. P. Smith.
North of Gedáref, at an altitude of 2400 meters, the South African pilots sighted and attacked the two covering CR.42s flown by Sottotenente Sola and Sergente Maggiore Omiccioli. After a few manoeuvres, one of the CR.42s crossed in front of Captain Le Mesurier, whose guns jammed. The two CR.42s split up with Lieutenants Condon and Jarvis chasing after Sola, firing at his fighter (MM6987 in charge of the 413a Squadriglia) repeatedly until they saw the aircraft crash 8 kilometres east of Gedáref. Omiccioli was instead pursued by Lieutenant Theron, who, however, came too close to his wake, so much so that the Gladiator became unstable. Omiccioli immediately took advantage of this and managed to escape his pursuer by diving.
The other CR.42s, meanwhile, machine-gunned a train stopped at the Gedáref station, some cavalry units and, on the way back, set fire to four trucks on their way from Gedáref to Showàk.
Antonio Raffi account differs in some details from the official reports, but in any case it is an interesting account of what happened:

“I had moved back to Gura, in squadron command, and the Gondar section remained under the command of Tenente Provinciali, who in those days with 6 CR.42 made an offensive reconnaissance in Upper Sudan. Towards noon, having reached the Gedaref vertical at 6000 metres, with reduced engines, they spotted some activity on the field of Gedaref and its surroundings. As they descended, they machine-gunned a Wellesley on the field and found an Indian cavalry regiment exercising nearby, causing considerable damage (by the way, this episode was confirmed to me by some Indian soldiers when I was captured prisoner in the hospital at Dessiè where I had been admitted for purulent dysentery). Then, continuing the action, they machine-gunned an ammunition train stopped at the Gedaref station, which blew up, then they spotted in the bush opposite a row of tankers, to be precise three with two trailers each, which they set on fire. At that moment, the low-altitude machine guns were attacked by Glosters. In the ensuing fight, we lost one aircraft, but my pilots reported three Glosters shot down, which were given as probable.”
Bulletin No. 201 claimed the shooting down of two Gladiators, while two others are reported to have crashed without being able to ascertain their fate and the fifth was seen to escape. Tenente Rosmino, on the other hand, referring to this combat, noted in his post-war reconstructed flight logbook of four aircraft shot down in collaboration. The Bulletin gives a very different version of the event from the British one, claiming that the entire Italian formation attacked the Glosters, then machine-gunned them on the ground after having eliminated or put them to flight. The two alleged victories would have been achieved by Omiccioli, who would write to his fiancée:
“I am proud to announce a new air victory, on 27 December we raided an enemy airfield in the Anglo-Swiss Sudan, in com-bat we shot down four Gloster Gladiator type aircraft, two of which were charged to me, one on fire, the other forced to land. This brought the number up to seven.”
As for Sottotenente Sola, the Italians didn’t immediately declared his loss: the other pilots claimed to have last seen his ”aircraft in flight difficulty due to decreased speed after action” and were unable to specify whether he ”made use of his parachute or landed”. The pilot was only declared missing after his failure to return and Filippo “Pippo” Sola was not officially declared dead until 28 April 1953. 24-years-old Sola, from Bologna, had arrived in the AOI with the 409a Squadriglia, and had then probably been transferred to the 414a Squadriglia and after the dissolution of the latter unit to the 413a Squadriglia.
The South African pilots, although aware of the attack on the base, didn’t report having faced any other adversaries apart from the two aforementioned aircraft. Evidently, Sola and Omiccioli were successful in attracting the attention of their opponents, thus protecting their comrades. The Bulletin does not mention any losses other than Sola's, but a note in the personal file of Tenente Provinciali’s personal file kept at the Central State Archive shows that his CR.42 MM4400 was damaged "in combat" and had to be repaired at SRAM: at this point it is logical to think that it was hit by ground fire.
The SAAF states that all aircraft returned to base and that the only damage suffered was a 12.7mm explosive projectile that hit the propeller of Lieutenant Condon’s Gladiator N5789 and rendered it unserviceable.
The shooting down of a CR.42 was credited to Lieutenant Condon.

On 22 June 1941 he returned to the Union.

He then subsequently served in the 2, 3, 62, 21 and 25 Air Schools.

On 10 September 1944 he was posted to 28 Squadron.

Condon ended the war with 1 biplane victory.

Post-war, Condon volunteered for the Berlin airlift in 1948 and flew with 28 Squadron.
During his tour over Berlin he was awarded the Air Force Cross for managing to land a C-47 Dakota with one engine on fire, one engine inoperable and no radar on a stormy night over the Black Forest. He had ordered his crew to abandon ship, but was not prepared to jump himself, because of the surrounding houses populated by German civilians.

After the war he flew as the Captain of Super Constellations flown by KLM and Sabena Airlines but was grounded at the age of 36 due to sinus problems.

Thomas Condon died in 1993 in Johannesburg.

Claims:
Kill no. Date Time Number Type Result Plane type Serial no. Locality Unit
  1940                
1 27/12/40 06:20- 1 CR.42 (a) Destroyed Gladiator II N5789 8km E Gedaref 1 SAAF Squadron

Biplane victories: 1 destroyed.
TOTAL: 1 destroyed.
(a) CR.42 from 412a Squadriglia shot down, with Sottotenente Filippo Sola being KiA

Sources:
Dust Clouds in the Middle East - Christopher Shores, 1996 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-898697-37-X
I Cavalieri Erranti - Ludovico Slongo, Stefan Lazzaro, Eugenio Eusebi, Michele Palermo and Danilo Ventura, 2023, ISBN 978-88-87952-37-7
Springbok Fighter Victory: East Africa Volume 1 1940 – 1941 – Michael Shoeman, 2002 African Aviation Series No. 11, Freeworld Publications CC, ISBN 0-958-4388-5-4
Additional information kindly provided by Declan Condon.




Last modified 31 August 2026