Carlo Canella was born on 22 June 1914 in Pescantina.

Canella was commissioned (in Servizio Permanente Effettivo) on 28 October 1938.

He served in the 84^a Squadriglia, 4^o Stormo, prior to the war.

On 2 May 1940, he was promoted to Tenente.

He served with 412^a Squadriglia, equipped with Fiat CR.42s, in the East African campaign of 1940-41.

Nine Wellesleys of 223 Squadron took off from Summit on 12 June. These were flown by Squadron Leader Larking (L2714), Flying Officer Roden (L2695), Flying Officer Collier (L2673), Flight Lieutenant Roulston (L2715), Flying Officer Ross (K7747), Pilot Officer Gidney (L2711), Flight Lieutenant Cross (L2690), Pilot Officer Tuffs (L2698) and Pilot Officer Ellis (K7788). Flight Lieutenant Cross had to return prematurely because shreds of canvas had come off its wings. Therefore, Flight A and C reunited in a five-man formation. Holding off Asmara, at 17:30 they made their first pass over Gura, attacking the structures to the north of the airport. At the same time, while the anti-aircraft came into action, the five planes were attacked by the CR.42 of Tenente Elia Mussolin, returning from a patrol over Asmara, and then by Sergente Mario Perini and another FIAT, which had scrambled. Heading south-east, the bombers prepared for a second pass in a north-westerly direction, still pursued by the three fighters. In the meantime, B Flight reached its assigned target, the Officine Caproni-Toselli of Mai Edaga, located at the southern end of the Gura complex, but here it was repeatedly attacked by three other Italian fighters (Sottotenente Fiorindo Rosmino, Sottotenente Giovanni Levi, who had taken off from Asmara, and, probably, Tenente Canella, possibly flying a CR.32). After the second pass, the first section of bombers descended, still pursued by Tenente Mussolin and Sergente Perini, while the third fighter turned to also attack B Flight. The low altitude limited the fighters manoeuvres, as they could not attack from below and were therefore more exposed to the defensive fire of the Lewis guns.
K7747/AO-K of Flying Officer Ross was repeatedly hit and the gunner Corporal Stevenson was wounded in the legs. Despite the damage, Ross' plane managed to return to base, but it was destroyed on landing due to undercarriage failure (it was officially decommissioned on 7 July). Over ddi gri a second Wellesley, K7788 of Pilot Officer Ellis, the left wing wingman, was repeatedly hit in the outer wing tank and in the fuselage behind the pilot s seat. The aircraft was badly damaged and, after landing, would also be declared out of service. The Squadron's gunners fired a total of 2115 rounds of .303 inch.
During the combat, it seems that Tenente Canella was credited with one Wellesley shot down (probably K7788). Mussolin s plane was hit by a total of seven bullets in the lower right wing, two engine cylinders, the oil cooler and the left tyre. Mussolin nevertheless landed safely at 18:05 after firing 360 rounds of 12.7 mm, claiming one bomber probably destroyed (mistakenly identified as a Hampden but most probably K7747) and the machine-gunning of the other four. His CR.42 MM4305 was judged repairable at SRAM. The other fighters, meanwhile, continued to attack B Flight and Sottotenente Levi fired 400 bullets and also claimed a probably downed aircraft (probably also K7788).
The British saw a biplane hitting the ground after being hit by several bullets. This was CR.42 MM5527 piloted by Sergente Perini, which crashed with the pilot wounded. On the Italian side, in addition, CR.42 MM5523 (pilot unknown) was also hit and the destruction of two pavilions and 15 aircraft engines was reported.
Although this air combat is one of the most documented on the Italian side to date, there remains some doubt as to the identity of the pilot credited with shooting down the Wellesley. The motivations with which the Medaglia d argento al valor militare was awarded to Tenente Visintini attribute this victory over Gura to him, while in the similar decoration to Tenente Canella was officially recognised for the shooting down of a Wellesley the following 14 June over Massawa. However, from one of the first letters written by Visintini to his family immediately after the outbreak of the conflict, it is clear that in those days he never left Massawa; furthermore, according to the pilot and special war correspondent Leone Concato, Canella was directly responsible for the first British aircraft shot down over East Africa , a circumstance also confirmed by Capitano Antonio Raffi. The victory of 12 June should therefore be attributed to Canella, and consequently to Visintini the one on 14 June.

In a mission around 14:00-15:00 on 3 July, Tenente Mario Visintini shot down Wellesley L2652 of 14 Squadron over Decamere. This aircraft was leading two other Wellesleys on a reconnaissance over Zula, Decamere, Gura, Asmara and Massawa. On leaving Decamere, L2652 was seen by the other two aircraft (flown by Pilot Officer Ferguson in L2710 and Pilot Officer Smith in L2649) to turn suddenly and sharply eastwards to the coast, but they then lost sight of it in clouds. It was subsequently attacked by Visintini and shot down off the coast at Mersa Kuba. The pilot, 26-years-old Flying Officer Samuel Gustav Soderholm (RAF No. 40194), 27-years-old Sergeant Bernard Lloyd Trayhurn (RAF No. 562891) and 21-years-old Leading Aircraftman John Clark Dawson (RAF No. 545075) perished in the sea crash. Only the body of the latter was recovered by Italians and then buried in Asmara War Cemetery.
During the combat, one of the two Fiats (the second participating pilot was Tenente Canella in a CR.32) were hit by the machine-gunners on board, but the pilot, unharmed, succeeded however to return to base.
The date of this kill is usually mistaken to 4 July, as this was wrongly stated in the motivation of his Medaglia d’argento al valor militare. According with official sources, no aerial combat happened over Eritrea on 4 July.

Having known since 13 October, by aerial reconnaissance, that a Flight of 47 Squadron had been detached to Al Qadarif (Gadaref), pilots of Regia Aeronautica planed a strafing attack on that field. On the 16 October, taking off at 06:00 from the Italian advanced field of Barentu, an S.79 flown by Generale Pietro Piacentini (CO of Settore Aeronautico Nord AOI) himself led in eight CR.42s of the 412^a Squadriglia flown by Capitano Antonio Raffi, Tenente Mario Visintini, Tenente Canella, Tenente Di Pauli, Sottotenente Fiorindo Rosmino, Sottotenente Levi, Sergente Maggiore Lugi Baron, and Sergente Pietro Morlotti. Some sources say that nine CR.42s were involved in this strike, but possibly the ninth pilot, newly arrived Sergente Carlo Scarselli, was left to protect Barentu.
At 06:55, the Savoia dropped its bombs on the field, then the fighters strafed between 07:00-07:20 and totally destroyed all eight Wellesleys of 47 Squadron detachment (K7742, K7762, K7779, K7781, L2650, L2675, L2677 and L2688) and, personally by Capitano Raffi, two of 430 Flight s Vincents (K4657 and K4731) while they were taking off, which were claimed as Gladiators shot down. An attempt to call the 1 SAAF fighter detachment at Azaza (some 20 kilometers north-east) was foiled, as the telephone line between Al Qadarif and Azaza was found to have been cut. Italian claims were quite accurate, eleven aircraft being claimed destroyed, together with a munitions dump, some lorries, a searchlight and, it seems, a Packard car, the latter fired on by Tenente Canella.
Capitano Raffi was decorated with a Medaglia d argento al valor militare as the organizer of the attack, while the other pilots gained a Medaglia di bronzo al valor militare each.

On 12 December, the 412^a Squadriglia launched an airfield strafe on the advanced strip at Gaz Regeb, where 237 Squadron s B Flight was based.
In the morning, five aircraft took off led by a S.79 (Tenente Colonnello Liberati). At 06:10, three of them (Capitano Antonio Raffi, Tenente Canella and Tenente Mario Visintini) attacked the parked Hawker Hardys, destroying K4053, K4308, K4055 and K4307 while the other two CR.42s (Tenente Luciano Cacciavillani (detached from the 413^a Squadriglia) and Sottotenente Giovanni Levi) remained above as cover.
Capitano Raffi, CO of the 412^a Squadriglia, made several attacks on one aircraft, which consistently refused to burn, but his own aircraft was then hit in the oil sump by fire from the Sudan Defence Force detachment guarding the airfield. Trailing smoke, he headed for his base, but the engine finally seized and stopped some 100 kilometres from the target and he force-landed east of Aroma, near the Atbarah River. Tenente Visintini landed alongside, took his CO aboard and seated on Raffi's knees after dispensing his parachute, took off and returned successfully. Once at Barentu, after refurbishing, Tenente Visintini, Tenente Cacciavillani and Sottotenente Levi returned to destroy Raffi's abandoned fighter to ensure its total destruction.
The Italian pilots claimed to have destroyed five Vickers Vincents on the ground at Qawz Rajab, together with three armoured cars near the downed Fiat.

At dawn on 9 February 1941, Capitano Mario Visintini led an attack on Akordat airfields and its satellite airfield with Tenente Canella, Tenente Raimondo Di Pauli, Sergente Aroldo Soffritti and Sergente Pietro Morlotti (all from the 412^a Squadriglia).
The attack was repeated in the same evening on Akordat and Bisha airfields.
A total of 16 aircraft were claimed by Italians in these two missions: 11 burned and 5 damaged including 5 Hurricanes, 5 Hawker biplanes, 2 Gladiators, 2 Wellesleys, 1 Valentia and 1 Martin Lysander.
The 203 Group diary admitted 6 destroyed and 4 badly damaged in the morning, 1 burned and 4 damaged in the evening, for a total of 15 out-of-use aircraft. Destroyed aircraft included two Wellesleys (K7713 and L2665) of 47 Squadron, two Hardys (K5921 and K4319) and two Lysanders L1026 and R2044) of 237 Squadron.
At this point, Mario Visintini was granted with a Medaglia d oro al valor militare for his outstanding combat record, while the other four pilots each gained a Medaglia d argento al valor militare for the daring missions.

Canella ended the war with 7 biplane victories.

During the war he was decorated with two Medaglie d argento al valor militare and one Medaglia di bronzo al valor militare.

Carlo Canella passed away in Caprino Veronese on 1 June 1986.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
1	12/06/40	17:30	1	Wellesley (a)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.32 (?)		Gura	412a Squadriglia
	16/10/40	07:00-07:20	1/8	Wellesley (b)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Al Qadarif	412a Squadriglia
	16/10/40	07:00-07:20	1/8	Wellesley (b)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Al Qadarif	412a Squadriglia
	16/10/40	07:00-07:20	1/8	Wellesley (b)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Al Qadarif	412a Squadriglia
	16/10/40	07:00-07:20	1/8	Wellesley (b)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Al Qadarif	412a Squadriglia
	16/10/40	07:00-07:20	1/8	Wellesley (b)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Al Qadarif	412a Squadriglia
	16/10/40	07:00-07:20	1/8	Wellesley (b)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Al Qadarif	412a Squadriglia
	16/10/40	07:00-07:20	1/8	Wellesley (b)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Al Qadarif	412a Squadriglia
	16/10/40	07:00-07:20	1/8	Wellesley (b)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Al Qadarif	412a Squadriglia
	16/10/40	07:00-07:20	1/8	Wellesley (b)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Al Qadarif	412a Squadriglia
	16/10/40	07:00-07:20	1/8	Gladiator (b)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Al Qadarif	412a Squadriglia
	16/10/40	07:00-07:20	1/8	Gladiator (b)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Al Qadarif	412a Squadriglia
	12/12/40	06:10-	1/3	Vincent (c)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Qawz Rajab	412a Squadriglia
	12/12/40	06:10-	1/3	Vincent (c)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Qawz Rajab	412a Squadriglia
	12/12/40	07:10-	1/3	Vincent (c)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Qawz Rajab	412a Squadriglia
	12/12/40	06:10-	1/3	Vincent (c)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Qawz Rajab	412a Squadriglia
	12/12/40	06:10-	1/3	Vincent (c)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Qawz Rajab	412a Squadriglia
	1940
	09/02/41	Dawn	1/5	Hurricane (d)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Dawn	1/5	Hurricane (d)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Dawn	1/5	Valentia (d)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Dawn	1/5	Hardy (d)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Dawn	1/5	Hardy (d)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Dawn	1/5	Hardy (d)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Dawn	1/5	Hardy (d)	Shared damaged on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Dawn	1/5	Gladiator (d)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Dawn	1/5	Wellesley (d)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Dawn	1/5	Wellesley (d)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Dawn	1/5	Lysander (d)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Evening	1/5	Hurricane (d)	Shared damaged on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Evening	1/5	Hurricane (d)	Shared damaged on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Evening	1/5	Hurricane (d)	Shared damaged on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Akordat	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Evening	1/5	Gladiator (d)	Shared destroyed on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Bisha	412a Squadriglia
	09/02/41	Evening	1/5	Hardy (d)	Shared damaged on the ground	Fiat CR.42		Bisha	412a Squadriglia

Biplane victories: 7 destroyed, 27 shared destroyed on the ground, 5 shared damaged on the ground.
TOTAL: 7 destroyed, 27 shared destroyed on the ground, 5 shared damaged on the ground.
(a) Claimed in combat with 8 Wellesleys of 223 Squadron, which suffered 2 Wellesleys written-off while claiming 1 CR.42 shot down. 412^a Squadriglia claimed 1 destroyed bomber and 2 probables while losing 1 CR.42 and getting 2 damaged.
(b) According to British sources eight Wellesleys of 47 Squadron (L2650, L2675, L2677, L2688, K7742, K7762, K7779 and K7781) and two Vincents of 430 Flight (K4657 and K4731) were burned on the ground, against claims for nine Wellesley destroyed on the ground and two Gladiators shot down during take-off. The latter were unofficially credited to Capitano Antonio Raffi.
(c) Five Vickers Vincents were claimed destroyed by 412^a Squadriglia while actually four Hawker Hardys (K4053, K4308, K4055 and K4307) of B Flight, 237 Squadron were totally burned on the ground.
(d) 412^a Squadriglia claimed 11 aircraft destroyed and 5 damaged on the ground (i.e. 2 Hurricanes, a Valentia, 3 Hardys, 2 Gladiators, 2 Wellesleys and a Lysander burned, 3 Hurricanes and 2 Hardys damaged). Actual losses were: in the morning, two Wellesleys (K7713 and L2665) of 47 Squadron, two Hardys (K5921 and K4319) and two Lysanders (L1026 and R2044) of 237 Squadron all burned, and four not specified aircrafts damaged at Akordat; in the evening, a Hurricane burned and two more damaged at Akordat, and a Vincent and a Gladiator damaged at Bisha, for a grand total of 15 destroyed or damaged aircrafts.

Sources:
I Cavalieri Erranti - Ludovico Slongo, Stefan Lazzaro, Eugenio Eusebi, Michele Palermo and Danilo Ventura, 2023, ISBN 978-88-87952-37-7
Annuario Ufficiale Delle Forze Armate Del Regno D Italia Anno 1943. Part III Regia Aeronautica 1943 Istituto Poligrafico Dello Stato, Roma
Assi Italiani Della Caccia 1936-1945 - 1999 Aerofan no. 69 apr.-giu. 1999, kindly provided by Jean Michel Cala
Dust Clouds in the Middle East - Christopher Shores, 1996 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-898697-37-X
Italian Aces of World War 2 - Giovanni Massimello and Giorgio Apostolo, 2000 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 1-84176-078-1
Additional information kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro and Ludovico Slongo.