On 2 June 1941, five Blenheims from Malta were out at midday after a convoy of six ships that had been sighted by a Sunderland. Two CR.42s and a Z.501 were seen over the convoy, but the Blenheims kept their distance until the Italian aircraft appeared to leave the area. Probably they ships’ crews assumed that the Blenheims were friendly since daylight attack by RAF had not yet become common.
At 14:45 the Blenheims attacked, but one went into the sea during the run-in. It seems this may have fallen to a pair of CR.42 pilots of the 70^a Squadriglia, 23^o Gruppo CT. Tenente Marco Marinone and Tenente Antonio Bizio reported seeing a lone Blenheim to the north-west of Lampedusa while they were escorting a convoy off the Italian coast, and they claimed this shot down between them. The attack by the other four Blenheims was successful. The steamer Montello, which was carrying ammunition, blew up and sank, whilst the Beatrice Costa, carrying a cargo of petrol in drums, caught fire. Her crew abandoned her, and her escort sent her to the bottom.

Bizio ended the war with 1 shared biplane victory.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
	02/06/41	14:45	½	Blenheim (a)	Shared destroyed	Fiat CR.42		NW Lampedusa	70a Squadriglia

Biplane victories: 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 1 shared destroyed.
(a) This claim can’t be verified with RAF records.

Sources:
Malta: The Hurricane Years 1940-41 - Christopher Shores, Brian Cull and Nicola Malizia, 1987 Grub Street, London