Image kindly provided by Fulvio Chianese at GORIZIA ed il QUARTO STORMO.

Natale Fiorito was born on 25 December 1916 and was from Torino.

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

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 Raffaele Chianese, Maresciallo Vittorio Romandini, Sergente Maggiore Leonardo Ferrulli, Sergente Maggiore Lorenzo Migliorato, Sergente Maggiore 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 11 December, the 91^a Squadriglia of the 10^o Gruppo finally arrived at El Adem with seven fighters (Capitano Vincenzo Vanni, Sergente Maggiore Lorenzo Migliorato, Sergente Maggiore Fiorito, Sergente Maggiore Giovanni Casero, Sottotenente Andrea Dalla Pasqua, Sergente Maggiore Leonardo Ferrulli and Sergente Elio Miotto).

At 11:10 on 12 December, a mixed formation from the 4^o Stormo took off for a free sweep in the Ogerin Bir El Kreighat area. After the sweep, they were to ground strafe targets of opportunity. Participating pilots from the 91^a Squadriglia were Maggiore Carlo Romagnoli (CO 10^o Gruppo), Capitano Vincenzo Vanni, Sottotenente Andrea Dalla Pasqua, Sergente Maggiore Leonardo Ferrulli, Sergente Maggiore Fiorito and Sergente Maggiore Giovanni Casero. From 84^a Squadriglia came Capitano Luigi Monti, Sottotenente Paolo Berti, Sottotenente Luigi Prati, Sottotenente Bruno Devoto, Sergente Roberto Steppi and Sergente Onorino Crestani.
Sergente Giovanni Battista Ceoletta of the 90^a Squadriglia was part of a formation taking off at 11:40 while his squadriglia mates Sergente Maggiore Angelo Savini and Sergente Alfredo Sclavo suffered accidents on take-off, which prevented them to take part (and probably wrote off the plane of Sclavo). Tenente Aldo Gon and Sergente Gustavo Minelli from the 96^a Squadriglia, 9^o Gruppo also took part in this action.
Bad weather prevented the discovery of ground targets, so Romagnoli led his fighters to the Bir Enba area where a formation of Gladiators surprised the 84^a Squadriglia formation. A long dogfight started after which the CR.42 of Onorino Crestani was missing and the remaining pilots claimed two victories. Crestani was taken prisoner.
According to the squadriglia diaries, the two confirmed victories were shared among the 91^a Squadriglia pilots plus Ceoletta (who used 120 rounds of ammunition during the combat) and the pilots from the 9^o Gruppo. Gon and Minelli in fact only claimed a shared probable in a combat against a reportedly six Gladiators, while the 10^o Gruppo’s Diary downgraded the victories to two probables. Monti, Prati and Steppi were credited with a damaged each while Ceoletta also claimed two damaged Gladiators (according to some Italian historians one Gladiator was shared between Monti, Prati and Steppi and the second shared between Gon and Minelli, while one or two other Gladiators were considered probably shot down but there is however no trace of such claims in the official diaries).
They had run into five Gladiators from 3 RAAF Squadron, which had taken off from ALG 74 at 11:25 to carry out an offensive patrol around Sofafi. The patrol intercepted a reported 16 to 18 CR.42 10km north-west of Sofafi. During the ensuing combat three of the Italian fighters were claimed shot down, one apiece being credited to Flying Officers Alan Boyd, Wilfred Arthur and Alan Gatward, without loss. In the three combat reports submitted by the 3 RAAF Squadron they all claimed two destroyed and one probably destroyed. Flying Officer Gatward reported engaging the CR.42s at 12:07. Both sides had observed each other, and he commented that the Italian aircraft stayed to give combat:

”While flying on patrol between SOFAFI and Solum at 2,000 ft [600 meters] we sighted a formation of 17 E.A. flying at 6000 ft [1800 meters] about 5 miles [8 kilometres] NW.
We climbed to about 8,000 ft [2400 meters] in the sun, but were outclimbed by the 42’s by about 2000 ft [600 meters] at that time.
We attacked and in the ensuing fight I fired on one E.A. twice and saw it go down into thick dust haze in a steep dive. During my first attack on the enemy E.A. my bursts appeared to go into the underneath portion of the engine & fuselage and my second whilst in the stern chase appeared to go into the tail unit and fuselage.”

”Flying no4 position in formation. Picked out one of the stragglers of the enemy formation & climbed at full throttle – turning so that I was between him & Solum. Believe that I was not observed until I was only about a thousand feet [300 meters] below him – when he appeared to be rapidly gaining height so – as I could not then see any other aircraft – I pulled the nose up & fired two long bursts up at him. The a/c was then almost stalled so I pulled nose down & commenced climbing in tight circles & I now found that I was rapidly gaining on him. He turned towards me slowly – which was also the direction of Solum - and I got behind when he flicked over to right & dived away – I followed suit & continued to do so until he dived steeply away & into the ground where he burst into flames. I followed him down until he hit. Throughout his only evasive manoeuvre was to flick…”

”I was flying the NO.5 position at about 1500 feet [460 meters], about 12 miles [19 kilometres] N.W of Sofafi when I sighted 17 EA flying on a Westerly course at about 7000 ft [2100 meters]. We proceeded to climb at full bore; the enemy turned south & over us & I fired at the last A/C of the formation who immediately did a flick roll & lost about a 1000 feet [300 meters] which brought him level with me. I then fired several bursts at him from different angles – after each burst he did a flick & spin as avoiding action – after firing about six times at him I observed him jump from the cockpit & he used his parachute. The CR42 continued the long dive & crashed into a gully on the edge of the escarpment, & burst into flames.
The pilot landed safely & I last saw him walking about on the ground.
In the dust I could not find the formation & returned to my base.”

On 22 December, a formation of 23 fighters from the 10^o Gruppo took off at 10:15 from Z1 to escort SM 79s bound to attack the usual British forces in the Sidi Omar-Sidi Azeiz area. The formation included six CR.42s from the 91^a Squadriglia (Maggiore Carlo Romagnoli, Capitano Vincenzo Vanni, Sottotenente Andrea Dalla Pasqua, Sergente Maggiore Lorenzo Migliorato, Sergente Maggiore Fiorito and Sergente Elio Miotto), seven from the 90^a Squadriglia (Tenente Franco Lucchini, Sottotenente Alessandro Rusconi, Sottotenente Neri De Benedetti, Sergente Alfredo Sclavo, Sergente Bruno Bortoletti, Sergente Luigi Bagato and Sergente Luigi Contarini) and ten from the 84^a Squadriglia (Capitano Luigi Monti, Capitano Mario Pluda (from the 91^a Squadriglia but attached to the 84^a Squadriglia), Tenente Antonio Angeloni, Sottotenente Luigi Prati, Sergente Domenico Santonocito, Sergente Roberto Steppi, Sergente Corrado Patrizi, Sergente Giuseppe Scaglioni, Sergente Piero Buttazzi and Sergente Luciano Perdoni).
Capitano Monti, Sottotenente Prati and Sergente Scaglioni were forced to turn back due to engine problems.
During the return journey, a British aircraft, identified as a “Battle”, tried to attack the formation but was attacked and damaged by Sergente Perdoni, Sergente Steppi and Tenente Angeloni. The 91^a Squadriglia formation attacked enemy aircraft (of unspecified type) over the front and claimed one of them confirmed. AA fire damaged Sergente Steppi's CR.42. At 12:10, all the fighters landed back at Z1.
The bombers were part of the biggest operation by the Regia Aeronautica since the beginning of Operation Compass, consisting of ten bombers from the 41^o Stormo under Colonnello Pezzi and ten more from the 15^o Stormo under Capitano De Cecco. Enemy vehicles around the border area were attacked by Pezzi, who after releasing his bombs went down to strafe from 50 metres altitude using 6000 rounds of ammo. The only damage suffered was from light AA on Tenente Pandolfi's aircraft. The bombers returned at 12:15.
The 15^o Stormo attacked the Sidi Azeiz area with 90 100kg bombs but was intercepted by aircraft identified as Battles (!). The Italian didn't have any escort, which had remained with the 41^o Stormo and had to accept combat. Nine SM 79 landed normally at 12:05 but the tenth was shot down, being forced to crash-land 30 kilometres south-east of Tobruk with a dead and two wounded among its crew.
It seems that they “Battles” in fact were Hurricanes from 33 Squadron, which reported that they flew offensive patrol together with 112 Squadron. During the day, they claimed two confirmed SM 79s shot down.

On 17 July 1941, 49 MC.200s from the 7^o, 10^o and 16^o Gruppi set off mid morning to escort one reconnaissance Z.1007bis over Malta. En route the 16^o Gruppo fighters became separated and returned to base, but the rest of the formation reached the island where eight Hurricanes of 249 Squadron and eleven from 185 Squadron had been scrambled. The aircraft from the former unit made contact, Squadron Leader Robert Barton (Hurricane Z3262) claiming one MC.200 shot down in flames, while Pilot Officer P. G. Leggett claimed a second and Flying Officer C. C. H. Davis one damaged. Two MC.200s of the 10^o Gruppo were in fact lost when Sergente Maggiore Enrico Botti (MC.200 MM6500) and Sergente Maggiore Fiorito (MC.200 MM5217) where killed. In return the pilots of the 10^o Gruppo claimed four Hurricanes and two probables. Tenente Colonnello Carlo Romagnoli and Capitano Franco Lucchini each claimed one Hurricane shot down and Sergente Maggiore Elio Miotto two. Maresciallo Leonardo Ferrulli and Sergente Luigi Contarini each claimed probables. One Hurricane was lost when 22-year-old Sergeant Maurice Guest (RAF No. 920596) of 249 Squadron in Hurricane Z2818 failed to return.

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

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
	12/12/40	11:10-	1/9	Gladiator (a)	Shared probable	Fiat CR.42		Bir Enba area	91a Squadriglia
	12/12/40	11:10-	1/9	Gladiator (a)	Shared probable	Fiat CR.42		Bir Enba area	91a Squadriglia
	22/12/40	10:15-12:10	1/6	Enemy aircraft	Shared destroyed	Fiat CR.42		Sidi Omar-Sidi Azeiz area	91a Squadriglia

Biplane victories: 1 shared destroyed, 2 shared probably destroyed.
TOTAL: 1 shared destroyed, 2 shared probably destroyed.
(a) Claimed in combat with 3 RAAF Squadron, which claimed 3 CR.42s without suffering losses. The 4^o Stormo claimed 2 probables and 5 damaged while losing 1 CR.42 (Sergente Crestani PoW).

Sources:
2^o Stormo - Note storiche dal 1925 al 1975 - Gino Strada, 1975 USSMA, Rome, kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
Desert Prelude: Early clashes June-November 1940 - Håkan Gustavsson and Ludovico Slongo, 2010 MMP books, ISBN 978-83-89450-52-4
Diario Storico 84^a Squadriglia kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
Diario Storico 90^a Squadriglia kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
Diario Storico 91^a Squadriglia kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
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
Quelli del Cavallino Rampante - Antonio Duma, 1981 Editore Dell'Ateneo, Roma kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
Additional information kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo