Germano Gasperoni served in the 75^a Squadriglia, 23^o Gruppo, 3^o Stormo. This unit was equipped with Fiat CR.42s.

When the war started on 10 June 1940 the 3^o Stormo was sent to the French border to take part in the attacks on southern France.

Gasperoni took part in the big attack on French airfields on 15 June.

In July 1940 the 23^o Gruppo moved to Sicily and took part in the attacks on Malta.
On 9 July the 23^o Gruppo became Autonomo and the first escort missions over Malta was flown on 12 July.

On 24 November 1940 two CR.42 pilots from the 23^o Gruppo's 75^a Squadriglia, Tenente Ezio Monti and Sergente Gasperoni, claimed a lone Wellington shot down in the sea some 40-50 kilometres from Malta.

During the winter or the spring he was promoted to Maresciallo.

In the early afternoon on 12 June 1941 an air-sea rescue Cant Z.506B floatplane (MM45292) of the 612^a Squadriglia, marked with Red Crosses, left Syracuse seaplane base for the second time that day to repeat a search for Sottotenente Umberto Curcio of the 7^o Gruppo. Curcio, in MC.200 (MM5354), had failed to return from a sortie over Malta in morning. The floatplane was escorted by two CR.42s from the 23^o Gruppo flown by Sottotenente Vittorio Bertoccini (MM7046) of 74^a Squadriglia and Maresciallo Gasperoni. Hurricanes of 46 Squadron were scrambled for the second time of the day, intercepting the Cant and a reported three CR.42s 45 miles from Grand Harbour at an altitude of 200 feet. Squadron Leader 'Sandy' Rabagliati (in Hurricane Z2491) and Sergeant Hackston both fired at the Cant, but broke away when they saw the Red Crosses. Sergeant Main followed and got in three short bursts, which set the port engine ablaze, only seeing the markings as the aircraft, landed burning on the sea. He then climbed to 2,000 feet where he made a beam astern attack on a CR.42, firing a three second burst which caused the engine to pour flames and the pilots to bale out as the Fiat dived into the sea. He then reported seeing a second CR.42 being shot down. Rabagliati meanwhile had got one burst at one CR.42 and then attacked another head-on, firing until he saw it fall to pieces in the air. Looking round he saw two other Italian aircraft shooting down a Hurricane, and then saw a CR.42 and an unidentified aircraft orbiting over the Cant, which was burning furiously on the water. Hackston, after his initial attack, was able only to watch as a CR.42, attacked by one of the others, went diving into the sea. Five minutes later he became involved in a dogfight with MC.200s of which he claimed one destroyed. The larger amount of Italian fighters and Hackstons reported presence of Macchis has not been verified by Italian sources. Italian records show that only Bertoccini was shot down, while Gasperoni's CR.42 was damaged during this combat although he returned safely to base. The Hurricane that was seen by Rabagliati being brought down was claimed by Gasperoni. This aircraft was flown by Sergeant Norman Walker, who curiously had claimed a shared destroyed BR.20 in the raids made by Regia Aeronautica in the late part of Battle of Britain.

On 15 November 1941 Pantelleria-based CR.42s from 23^o Gruppo intercepted a passing Blenheim, Maresciallo Gasperoni, Sergente Luigi Sacchi and Sergente Francesco Cuscuna claiming to have obtained hits on this. The damaged OADU Blenheim crash-landed on arrival at Luqa..

Blenheims were out from Malta on 11 December 1941, three of them attacking a 5,000 ton vessel in Argostoli harbour. The aircraft of Flight Lieutenant E. G. Edmunds of 18 Squadron failed to return, and it would seem that this fell foul of two 23^o Gruppo CR.42s flown by Maresciallo Gasperoni and Sergente Leonzio Bicego. They had taken off during the morning to escort some S.82 transport aircraft to Tripoli, and claimed a Blenheim shot down between them. Gasperoni returned with his aircraft damaged and a wound in his left arm.

Gasperoni ended the war with 1 biplane victory.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
	24/11/40	½	Wellington	Shared destroyed	Fiat CR.42		off Malta	75a Squadriglia
	1941
1	12/06/41	1	Hurricane (a)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.42		off Grand Harbour	23o Gruppo
	15/11/41	1/3	Blenheim (b)	Shared damaged	Fiat CR.42		off Pantelleria	23o Gruppo
	11/12/41	½	Blenheim (c)	Shared destroyed	Fiat CR.42		Mediterranean area	23o Gruppo

Biplane victories: 1 and 2 shared destroyed, 1 shared damaged.
TOTAL: 1 and 2 shared destroyed, 1 shared damaged.
(a) Hurricane of 46 Squadron. Pilot Sergeant Norman McDonald Walker killed.
(b) Damaged Blenheim from O.A.D.U.; crash-landed on arrival at Luqa.
(c) Blenheim of 18 Squadron flown by Flight Lieutenant E. G. Edmunds shot down.

Sources:
Malta: The Hurricane Years 1940-41 - Christopher Shores and Brian Cull with Nicola Malizia, 1987 Grub Street, London, ISBN 0-89747-207-1
Additional information kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo.