On the last day of August 1940, the 151^o Gruppo C.T. (366^a, 367^a and 368^a Squadriglie) was ordered to move in Libya with 30 CR.42s as a reinforcement for the attack against Sidi Barrani.
The unit under the command of Maggiore Carlo Calosso was one of the first equipped with CR.42s in 1939 and was based in Caselle Torinese near Turin, with sections and Squadriglie detached in different airbases of North Italy for local defence duties.
They departed Caselle Torinese in the morning of 6 September and at 18:20 on 8 September, the whole Gruppo landed in Tripoli Castel Benito.
The 366^a Squadriglia formation was composed of ten aircraft: Capitano Bernardino Serafini (CO), Tenente Mario Ferrero (the Gruppo Adjutant), Sottotenente Amedeo Guidi, Maresciallo Giulio Cesare, Sergente Maggiore Fiorenzo Milella, Sergente Maggiore Dino Carta, Sergente Maggiore Roberto Marchi, Sergente Maggiore Cesare Chiarmetta, Sergente Camerini, Sergente Eugenio Cicognani. Tenente Piero Veneziani and Maresciallo Giovanni Accorsi followed in the unit’s hack Caproni Ca.133 together with five ground personnel.
The formation of 367^a Squadriglia comprised the Gruppo Commander Maggiore Carlo Calosso, the 368^a Squadriglia’s pilot Sergente Piero Hosquet and nine other pilots for a total of eleven. Among them were Capitano Simeone Marsan (the CO), Tenente Irzio Bozzolan, Tenente Aldo Bonuti, Sergente Maggiore Gino Bogoni and Sergente Tolmino Zanarini. The Squadriglia’s other six pilots were Tenente Giuseppe Costantini, Maresciallo Bruno Castellani, Sergente Maggiore Rodolfo Benco, Sergente Maggiore Bruno Celotto, Sergente Renato Mingozzi and Sergente Maggiorino Soldati.
The 368^a Squadriglia formation was composed of nine aircraft: Capitano Bruno Locatelli (CO), Tenente Giuseppe Zuffi, Sottotenente Furio Lauri, Sergente Maggiore Davide Colauzzi, Sergente Maggiore Annibale Ricotti, Sergente Maggiore Alvise Andrich, Sergente Stefano Fiore, Sergente Ottorino Ambrosi, Sergente Mario Turchi. Tenente Orfeo Paroli and Maresciallo Guido Paparatti followed in the Ca.133 of the Squadriglia (Paroli and Fiore were just transferred from 367^a Squadriglia).
On 25 September the 151^o Gruppo transferred from Benghazi to El Adem where it replaced the 9^o Gruppo C.T.

Blenheims bombed the railway station at Barce on 4 February 1941. One of the bombers were shot down by Tenente Furio Lauri of the 368^a Squadriglia, with the loss of the crew. A second CR.42 from this unit, flown by Sergente Ezio Masenti, suffered engine problems and landed at Barce. British troops were in the area and, as soon as returning pilots reported on Masenti's plight, a Ca.133 being used as a hack by the 151^o Gruppo CT took off from Agedabia in the hands of Maresciallo Giovanni Accorsi of the 366^a Squadriglia, who was accompanied by an engineer, 1^oAv Mot. Callerani. Three CR.42s of the 366^a Squadriglia led by Capitano Guglielmo Chiarini and including Maresciallo Cesare and Sergente Camerini, provided escort. Over Barce, the Ca.133 was intercepted at low-level by a section of 73 Squadron Hurricanes and was shot down by Pilot Officer McColl (V7372 ‘TP-W’), both Giovanni Accorsi and Callerani losing their lives in the subsequent crash. As the CR.42s dived down in a vain attempt to assist the doomed transport, the Hurricanes turned to engage. In the ensuing combat Chiarini was shot down and killed by Pilot Officer George Goodman (victory number 7 of 10 totally) of 73 Squadron (Hurricane Mk.I V7716 ‘TP-U’).
Meanwhile, Camerini shot down a Hurricane (V7491) flown by Pilot Officer Ken M. Millist of 73 Squadron in a head-on attack.
Millist aircraft was hit in the engine and he made a forced-landing ten miles north-east of Benina. For two days, without food or water, Millist – known as ‘Tiny’ due to his height, in excess of six feet – walked and hid, being chased on one occasion by an Italian motorcyclist whom he successfully evaded. On the third day he met an Australian army sergeant who gave him food and water before helping him to obtain a lift to Derna. Of Millist’s plight, his colleague Pilot Officer Bill Eiby recalled:

“When he was shot down by the vintage biplane everyone laughed their bloody heads off. He went in head-on. We were told not to tackle them head-on, but Tiny did and got hit in the radiator for his pains.”

At 10:55 on 5 February, Tenente Carugno of the 217^a Squadriglia took off from Agedabia to check the situation in Giarabub. Soon after takeoff a huge column of British motor transports was discovered in Antelat and ground strafed. When the SM 79 was leaving the scene, some Fiats were seen to join the action and start to strafe the same column. The S79 was back at 11:35 aborting its mission over Giarabub.
The Fiats were four 366^a Squadriglia machines piloted by Tenente Mario Ferrero, Sottotenente Amedeo Guidi, Sergente Camerini and Sergente Imberti and three 367^a Squadriglia machines piloted by Tenente Ceccotti, Sergente Ugo Fraternali and Sergente Stefano Fiore. They reported the attack against a hundred mechanized and armoured vehicles when they landed back at 12:00.

On 31 July 1941, the 151^o Gruppo's first operational tour in North Africa ended.

Once back in Italy, the 151^o Gruppo was deployed to Treviso airfield, where it flew CR.42s and MC.200s.

After a short spell in Sardinia, the unit was ordered back to Africa on 18 November 1941, reaching Agedabia airfield on 25 November.

On 26 November, four 366^a Squadriglia CR.42s engaged two Hurricane Mk.Is from 33 Squadron over Augila. The Hurricanes, which was out on a patrol over the Gialo area reported seeing enemy bombers and while diving to engage these they were attacked by escorting Italian fighters. Flying Officer D. S. F. 'Bill' Winsland (a veteran of the fighting in Greece and the Desert) was shot down and Flying Officer Cloete, was driven off by the Italian fighters. Winsland baled out and was brought back to base next day by a Blenheim from El Eng.
Capitano Bernardino Serafini and Sergente Maggiore Camerini claimed to have jointly shot down the Hurricane flown by Flying Officer Winsland. The other Hurricane was driven off by Tenente Amedeo Guidi and Maresciallo Paolo Montanari.
Winsland's aircraft may well have been the last Hurricane Mk.I to be shot down by a CR.42. Victor and vanquished were reunited in 1984, due to the efforts of British air historian and writer Brian Cull and Italian air historian Nicola Malizia, and Serafini and Winsland have remained firm friends ever since.

A shipping escort flown on 31 March 1943, resulted in three pilots falling victim to bad weather. 366^a Squadriglia CO Capitano Enrico Londei and Sergente Maggiore Camerini, both of 151^o Gruppo, and Sergente Maggiore Manrico Mincuzzi of 153^o Gruppo's 373^a Squadriglia all perished.
The weather was no better the next day when Tenente Colonello Bruno Cudugnello, who had been 53^o Stormo CO since 22 February, was lost while searching for the three missing pilots.
Cudugnello was temporarily replaced as CO by Tenente Colonello Andrea Favini, who in turn made way for Tenente Colonello Giro Aiello on 16 April.

At the time of his death, Camerini was credited with 1 biplane victory.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
1	04/02/41		1	Hurricane (a)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.42		NE Benina	366a Squadriglia
	26/11/41		1/2	Hurricane (b)	Shared destroyed	Fiat CR.42		Augila area	366a Squadriglia

Biplane victories: 1 and 1 shared destroyed and 3 shared destroyed on the ground.
TOTAL: 1 and 1 shared destroyed and 3 shared destroyed on the ground.
(a) Hurricane V7491 of 73 Squadron flown by Pilot Officer Ken M. Millist shot down. Millist survived and returned to his unit by foot.
(b) Flying Officer D. S. F. 'Bill' Winsland of 33 Squadron shot down. Pilot safe.

Sources:
53^o Stormo - Marco Mattioli, 2010 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 978-1-84603-977-5
Fighters over the Desert - Christopher Shores and Hans Ring, 1969 Neville Spearman Limited, London
Hurricanes over Tobruk - Brian Cull with Don Minterne, 1999 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-11-X
Stormi d'Italia – Giulio Lazzati, 1975 Mursia, Milan, ISBN 88-425-1946-4, kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro.
Additional information kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo.