Raffaele Chianese was from Calvizzano (Napoli).

Sergente Chianese served in the 4^o Stomro CT before taking part in the Spanish Civil War.

By the end of August, after the first 12 CR.32s, and their pilots, had reached Melilla, three more had been sent to Majorca and nine were offloaded in the port of Vigo de Galicia, on Spain s Atlantic coast, from the Spanish ship Ebro. The latter had been renamed Aniene in Italy so that it could run contraband under a flag of convenience.

The nine CR.32s delivered to Vigo de Galicia were unloaded on the night of 27 August, although the presence of a British naval vessel in the port at the same time meant that this operation could not be completed in secrecy. Nine pilots under the command of Tenente Dante Olivero (from 6^o Stormo) were also on board Aniene, and each of them had a false identity. Amongst the aviators were Sottotenente Adriano Mantelli ('Arrighi') and Sergenti Brunetto di Montegnacco ('Antonio Romualdi'), GianLino Baschirotto ('Edoardo Giri') and Chianese, while five groundcrew provided technical support. The men and their machines then travelled by train southwards along the Vigo-Orense-Salamanca-Caceres-Seville route, which was controlled by Nationalist forces that had recently occupied the eastern Extremadura to unite the occupied zones of southern and north-western Spain. The reassembly of the nine aeroplanes, which were destined for the Segunda Escuadrilla de Caza del Tercio (2^a Escuadrilla de Caza del Tercio), commenced after the three-day journey had ended in Tablada on 30 August.

On the morning of 9 September capitán Joaquín García Morato led Italian pilots Sergente Chianese and Sergente Achille Buffali from Tablada to the airfield at Cáceres, in Extremadura, from where they could support the Nationalist advance towards Madrid.
It is possible that capit n Morato already at this time was serving as a flight leader in the 2^a Escuadrilla de Caza del Tercio since it is known that he served in this role during September-December 1936.

In the morning on 11 September, capit n Joaquín García Morato and Sergente Chianese claimed a Ni-H.52 each. These were flown by French pilots Captain Jean Labitte and Sergeant Abel Guidez, who had enrolled in the Escuadra Espa a from the reserve corps of the Armée de l'Air. Both pilots survived to return to their unit.
This was capit n Morato's fifth victory, and his first with the CR.32.

On 16 September, Sergente Chianese of the 2^a Escuadrilla de Caza del Tercio downed a D.372 near Talavera that was piloted by British pilot Keith Lindsay of the Escuadra Internacional. The injured pilot managed to return to the Republican side.
A short while later during the same sortie Chianese downed a militarised, red-painted. Miles M.2 two-seat single-engined monoplane that was being used as a makeshift reconnaissance aircraft - both crewmembers were killed.

On 24 September, the CR.32s were transferred to Talavera airfield, which was closer to the operational zone of Toledo and Madrid.

On 30 November, Sergente Chianese of the 2 ^a Escuadrilla de Caza del Tercio took part in a strafing attack when his CR.32 burst into flames and he was forced to take to his parachute over Republican territory. He was soon captured, and remained a PoW until being freed in a prisoner exchange in July 1937.

Chianese claimed 3 biplane victories during the Spanish Civil War.

When Italy declared war on the Great Britain and France on 10 June 1940, Maresciallo Chianese served in the 91^a Squadriglia, 10^o Gruppo, 4^o Stormo C.T.

Chianese was one of the best aerobatic pilots of the Stormo.

On 12 June, the 2^o Stormo's fighters in North Africa were joined by those of the 10^o Gruppo (84^a, 90^a and 91^a Squadriglie) of the Gorizia based 4^o Stormo C.T.. The Gruppo was commanded by Tenente Colonnello Armando Piragino and started the war at Tobruk T2 with 27 CR.42s.
The 91^a Squadriglia C.T. was composed of the following pilots: Capitano Giuseppe D Agostinis (CO), Tenente Enzo Martissa, Sottotenente Ruggero Caporali, Maresciallo Chianese, Maresciallo Vittorio Romandini, Sergente Maggiore Leonardo Ferrulli, Sergente Maggiore Lorenzo Migliorato, Sergente Maggiore Natale Fiorito, Sergente Maggiore Elio Miotto, Sergente Aldo Rosa, Sergente Alessandro Bladelli, Sergente Guido Scozzoli and Sergente Luigi Ferrario. They had ten CR.42s on strength (including Piragino s).

On 29 July, the 10^o Gruppo took off at 17:05 for a routine evening patrol over the Bardia-Amseat-Sidi Rezegh area. Maggiore Carlo Romagnoli leading Capitano Giuseppe D Agostinis, Maresciallo Chianese, Tenente Enzo Martissa and Sergente Aldo Rosa of the 91^a Squadriglia, Tenente Giovanni Guiducci, Sottotenente Neri De Benedetti and Sergente Maggiore Angelo Savini of the 90^a Squadriglia and Capitano Luigi Monti, Tenente Vincenzo Vanni and Tenente Giuseppe Aurili of the 84^a Squadriglia. During the mission, Chianese was seen to suddenly dive towards the ground and was followed by the entire formation assuming that he had discovered some sort of target on ground. In truth, weakened by the insufficient alimentation and the bad hygienic conditions of El Adem, Chianese had lost consciousness, regaining control only when a few metres from the ground. Once at base he was sent back to Gorizia.

Chianese never regained active service but his experience was used in the Fighter School of Gorizia.

Chianese ended the war with 3 biplane victories, these being claimed during the Spanish Civil War.

He continued to serve as a flying instructor after the war.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1936
1	11/09/36	morning	1	Ni-H.52 (a)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.32		Talavera area	2a Escuadrilla de Caza del Tercio
2	16/09/36		1	D.372 (b)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.32		Talavera area	2a Escuadrilla de Caza del Tercio
3	16/09/36		1	Miles M.2 (c)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.32		Talavera area	2a Escuadrilla de Caza del Tercio

Biplane victories: 3 destroyed.
TOTAL: 3 destroyed.
(a) The 1^a Escuadrilla de Caza del Tercio shot down 2 Ni-H.52s flown by French pilots Captain Jean Labitte and Sergeant Abel Guidez, who had enrolled in the Escuadra Espa a from the reserve corps of the Arm e de l Air. Both pilots survived to return to their unit.
(b) Dewoitine D.372 of the Escuadra Internacional flown by British pilot Keith Lindsay, who escaped injured.
(c) Crew in enemy aircraft KIA.

Sources:
Courage Alone - Chris Dunning, 1998 Hikoki Publications, Aldershot, ISBN 1-902109-02-3
Desert Prelude: Early clashes June-November 1940 - H kan Gustavsson and Ludovico Slongo, 2010 MMP books, ISBN 978-83-89450-52-4
Desert Prelude: Operation Compass - H kan Gustavsson and Ludovico Slongo, 2011 MMP books, ISBN 978-83-61421-18-4
Due Volte Asso - Giovanni Massimello, 1997 Storia Militare Nr. 49 Ottobre 1997 kindly provided by Massimo Cappone
Elenco Nominativo dei Militari dell A. M. Decorati al V. M. Durante it Periodo 1929 - 1945 1 Volume A - L
Fiat CR.32 Aces of the Spanish Civil War - Alfredo Logoluso, 2010 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 978-1-84603-983-6
GORIZIA ed il QUARTO STORMO
Regia Aeronautica: The Italian Air Force 1923-1945 - An Operational History - Chris Dunning, 2009 Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, Surrey, ISBN 978-1-906537-02-9
The Legion Condor - Karl Ries and Hans Ring, 1992 Schiffer Publishing, ISBN 0-88740-339-5
Additional information kindly provided by Fulvio Chianese, Alfredo Logoluso, Ludovico Slongo.