Carlo Canella was born on 22 June 1914 in Pescantina (Verona).

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 Áddi Úgri 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.

Sottotenente Canella was decorated with his first Medaglia d’argento al valor militare (gazetted 1940) for the combat on 12 June (even if it erroneously was cited to have been on 14 June):

"Bravely attacking an enemy formation of bombers on his own, he shot one down and prevented the others from completing their mission by chasing them over the sea, despite the night’s darkness."
Sky over Massawa, 14 June 1940-XVIII.

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 (Gadáref), pilots of Regia Aeronautica planed a strafing attack on that field. Thus, on the evening of 15 October, the Italian Northern Sector Command transferred three S.79s and several CR.42s to Barentù, in addition to those already present at the base, bringing the total number of available fighters to nine.
Also during the night, infiltrators cut the tele-phone link between the secondary camp and the city of Gedáref, from where the alarm could be transmitted by radio to the 'Azaza camp, Gladiator base of the 1 SAAF Squadron detachment.
At 06:00 on 16 October, a S.79 of the 19^a Squadriglia, piloted by Tenente Edmondo Carlucci and Tenente Colonnello Luigi Klinger (CO of the 28 Gruppo), with Generale Pietro Piacentini (CO of Settore Aeronautico Nord AOI) also on board took off together with at least eight of the nine CR.42s available. The figther pilots from the 412^a Squadriglia were Capitano Antonio Raffi, Tenente Mario Visintini, Tenente Canella, Tenente Raimondo Di Pauli, Sottotenente Fiorindo Rosmino, Sottotenente Giovanni Levi, Sergente Maggiore Lugi Baron, and Sergente Pietro Morlotti. Some sources states that nine CR.42s were involved in this strike, but possibly the ninth pilot, newly arrived Sergente Carlo Scarselli, was left to protect Barentu.
The formation headed for Càssala and from there followed the railway line to Gedáref. What happened is vividly described by Vittorio Beonio-Brocchieri, correspondent of the Corriere della Sera:

“Imagine that you see in front of you, from an aerial perspective, a quadrangular polygon surrounded by a clearing of small woods and bushes. British equipment appears scattered partly in the centre and partly on the edges of the range.”

“At this moment, our pilots were able to observe a very curious scene on the field: the mad flight of the British soldiers and officers who were at the defensive positions of the airfield. Rarely does one witness such a funny spectacle: seeing the entire airfield staff abandon their machine gun emplacements and anti-aircraft guns during an attack in order to save their legs and jump into the armoured "fifaus"!”

“As the first columns of smoke rose from the stricken machines on the northwest side of the airfield, two large explosions detonated at the other end, showing that three of the British aircraft were not refuelled but were already loaded with bombs. About three minutes into the action, columns of smoke began to rise, stretched obliquely by a south-westerly wind. In the fourth minute, while the chain of assailants in pursuit repeated the attack without giving the enemy the material time to attempt a sufficient reaction, a larger explosion erupted at the ammunition depot, which was blown up at three consecutive times, at intervals of a few seconds. Even a lorry loaded with petrol at one end of the field caught fire and gave off a smear of smoke which, in the photograph, looks like a torrent in flood. Before our aircraft had moved away, the smoke from the fires had invaded all the vicinity of the range and was spreading far and wide. The pilot of one of the aircraft responsible for photo-graphically documenting the feat, having descended to within a few metres of the ground, was able to recognise and ascertain that the destruction of the enemy's war material had been completely, utterly and exhaustively successful.”

“[...] I wish I knew how to express to you the impression of the fires caused at Ghedaref: you know, between night and dawn, when the blackness of the night has not completely gone and the first light has not succeeded in overcoming the darkness, tongues of fire of a colour between carmine and violet burst from the ground, emanating from a dense envelope of smoke, and in between you see the great wings of the aircraft crucifying themselves on the ground, now useless, lost. And the carousel of fighter planes spiralling in that air of tragedy and triumph. And the descents at very low altitude, amidst the stupefaction of the adversary who can no longer even decide to retaliate against the offence: and the pale dawn, which little by little widens and overcomes the darkness, and then a triumph of dazzling sunlight which eats up the fires of the earth and only in the still air are scarves of smoke left to reach the clouds.”

“The first warning the 1st Squadron detachment had of the attack was the billowing clouds of black smoke visible in the distance from the burning bombers. By this time, the Regia Aeronautica was on its way home after a successful day.”

“At dawn bombing and fighter formation attacked at low altitude the new Gedaref airfield by surprise, where previous day and night reconnaissance had discovered and ascertained an important concentration of enemy aircraft, probably a base for offensive action against our north-western array: in repeated passages all the aircraft (11 Wellesley and Gloster types) present and decentralised on the field were set on fire with fragmentation and machine-gun fire; an ammunition depot was blown up and several trucks set on fire; troops were observed fleeing hastily amidst fires and columns of smoke; all our air-craft returned unharmed to base. […]”

04.05 [GMT]. The airfield is attacked by an S.79, 4 CR.32s and 3 CR.42s. The S.79 releases a salvo of bombs, apparently to no effect. Then the CR.32s break away from the formation and machine-gun the 8 Wellesleys and 2 Vincents on the ground while the S.79 and CR.42s circle above. All our aircraft are burnt out and completely destroyed. There were a considerable number of personnel on the airfield at the time, but all were miraculously unharmed.
08.00 [GMT]. Two S.79s flew over the field, apparently on reconnaissance. There was an exchange of machine gun fire, but no casualties.
It was decided to evacuate the area, the camp was disman-tled and all personnel left by train for Khartoum at 1200 [GMT].”

“In October 1940, a detachment of 47 Squadron moved from Khartoum to an airfield near Gedaref, some 230 miles south-east of the capital and which - appropriately enough - was located near the railway system from Port Sudanto Khartoum itself. The unit was skeleton staffed, meaning that everyone had two jobs - which can work well if you have the right people - and consisted of eight Wellesleys and four Vincents. The idea was to be able to operate closer to our targets, taking a calculated risk, thus saving a lot of flight time for both machines and crews.
Within a few days our hideout was discovered by a Savoia Marchetti SM.79, which was indeed a bird of ill omen. At dawn the next day, it returned, carrying six Fiat CR.42s. It was the moment of despair, the one that "Digger" Magill and I had feared, but thought would not happen. We had underestimated the Italian commander, General Piacentini; we were later told that he had accompanied the attack in person, exercising command from the front line. A smart guy!
With no ground defence against air attacks - albeit with an Indian Brigade quartered nearby - and no communications with a Gladiator squadron whose job it was to give us adequate cover, the Italians had a field day. In no time at all, CR.42s set fire to all our planes, and the General no doubt smacked his lips in satisfaction from his vantage point 3,000 feet [910m] above us. Within minutes it was all over, and for the first time in living memory the sun was eclipsed on that side of the world by dense columns of black smoke rising thousands of feet above us. It was an absolutely depressing sight: burning planes scattered all around the field. I felt like crying.
The only distraction came with Black Mac's telegram, which simply said, "Do you want your horse?" I didn't feel like answering. So, back to Khartoum by train - what else could we do? We had learnt our lesson the hard way; this I must repeat to myself, as the idea had been all mine. In other words: if you're going to get close to the enemy, you've got to be damn sure you can defend yourself adequately against air attacks.”

At 17:10 (Aegean time, GMT+2) on 18 October, four S.82s of the 41^o Grupp (MM 60300/204-9, MM60299/204-10, 205-8 and MM60301/205-9), with 3000 litres of additional fuel each, took off from Gadurrà (Rhodes) led by Maggiore generale Ettore Muti to bomb refineries and fuel depots in Manama (Bahrain). The target was reached at 02:20 on 19 October and hit with 132 15 kg bombs. To avoid enemy interception, the return route included a landing at Zùla, which was duly carried out at 08:45. Apart from the damage inflicted, the action had a great impact on the media at the time, not only in Italy, as it ended up being the longest bombing mission ever carried out during the war.
On section comprising Tenente Canella, Sottotenente Giovanni Levi and Sergente Maggiore Lugi Baron were sent from Gura to Zùla, to protect the SM.82s. During their stay in Zùla, the CR.42s carried out a protection cruise on the field on 20 October, as well as some scrambles on alert on 19 October, 20 October and 23 October. The section then returned to Gura on 24 October.

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.

Tenente Canella was decorated with his second Medaglia d’argento al valor militare (gazetted 1941) for the combat on 9 February 1941:

"After twenty-two days of continuous intense aerial combat, exhausted but undeterred in his physical strength and unwavering in his belief in victory, he volunteered to face significant enemy forces stationed at heavily defended bases. With moving and indomitable heroism, he attacked the enemy, destroying sixteen enemy aircraft, overcoming the fierce and desperate anti-aircraft defence and fighter attacks. A superb expression of Italian heroism."
Sky over Agordat, 9 February 1941-XIX.

Canella ended the war with 7 biplane victories.

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
	1941
	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
Elenco Nominativo dei Militari dell’ A. M. Decorati al V. M. Durante it Periodo 1929 - 1945 1 Volume A - L
Fiat CR.42 Aces of World War 2 - Håkan Gustavsson and Ludovico Slongo, 2009 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 978-1-84603-427-5
Istituto del Nastro Azzurro
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.