In September 1940, Masenti served in the 78^a Squadriglia, 13^o Gruppo. This unit was at the time equipped with Fiat CR.42s and based in North Africa.

At 10:30 (11:20 in British documents) on 30 September, seven Blenheims from the 113 Squadron (it is possible that the formation also included two additional Blenheims from 45 Squadron) attacked Maraua, surprising some 15^o Stormo aircraft, which were taxiing before take off. The AA defences mistook the Blenheims for Breda Ba.88s and didn’t open fire until it was too late. One S.79 took a direct hit and exploded, another aircraft was destroyed while two bombers were heavily damaged (RD) and four less seriously (RS). The airstrip remained out of service and many pilots died; Tenente D’Ignazio, Sottotenente Costanzo, Sergente Maggiore Marcantoni, Sergente Goggi together with two crewmembers were killed and six more were wounded. 113 Squadron’s crews accurately reported two buildings at the edge of the airport blown up, one Savoia S.79 in flames and two blown up with several believed damaged.
Tenente Giovanni Beduz, Sergente Maggiore Masenti and Sergente Rovero Abbarchi of the 78^a Squadriglia, 13^o Gruppo scrambled at 11:05 from Gambut G following an air alarm and flew in north-westerly direction for 100 kilometres until they intercepted three Blenheims over the sea. Tenente Beduz was credited with an individual victory while another bomber was shared among the three pilots. They used 1700 rounds of ammunition and returned to base between 12:30 and 13:00.
In fact, a flight of three Blenheims from 113 Squadron, which had been detached from the other, was intercepted 50 miles north of Tobruk. Two of the Blenhiems were damaged and rendered unserviceable while T2171 was shot down into the sea; Sergeant Leslie Cater (RAF no. 741384), Sergeant Kenneth Herbert Meadowcroft (RAF no. 581019) and 18-year-old Sergeant Bernard James Shelton (RAF no. 642942) were all killed. The returning crews reported that they were attacked by 15 (!) CR.42s and the defending gunners claimed two of the attacking fighters shot down and one badly hit.

In December the 2^o Stormo left their few surviving CR.42s to 4^o Stormo and returned to Italy.
It is possible that Masenti at this time was posted to the 368^a Squadriglia, 151^o Gruppo Autonomo CT in Cirenaica, since in the beginning of 1941 he was serving with this unit. The unit was at this time also equipped with Fiat CR.42s.

On 23 January 1941, Blenheims attacked Apollonia (two machines from 55 Squadron) and Maraua (probably Blenheims from 113 Squadron) landing grounds, claiming some damage but no decisive results. In fact, it seems that the first airbase didn’t suffer serious damage, while in Maraua a Ba.65 of the 12^o Gruppo was hit and damaged at 07:40 in the morning.
Derna was targeted by three Blenheims from 45 Squadron led by Flight Lieutenant Haines, which had taken off at 05:55. It seems that Derna didn’t suffer any damage.
During the action, Sergente Maggiore Masenti claimed the shooting down of a Bristol Blenheim identified as a reconnaissance machine.

Blenheims bombed the railway station at Barce on 4 February 1941. One of the bombers were shot down by Tenente Furio Lauri of the 368^a Squadriglia, with the loss of the crew. A second CR.42 from this unit, flown by Sergente Masenti, suffered engine problems and landed at Barce. British troops were in the area and, as soon as returning pilots reported on Masenti's plight, a Ca.133 being used as a hack by the 151^o Gruppo CT took off from Agedabia in the hands of Maresciallo Giovanni Accorsi of the 366^a Squadriglia, who was accompanied by an engineer, 1^oAv Mot. Callerani. Three CR.42s of the 366^a Squadriglia led by Capitano Guglielmo Chiarini and including Maresciallo Cesare and Sergente Antonio Camerini, provided escort. Over Barce, the Ca.133 was intercepted at low-level by a section of 73 Squadron Hurricanes and was shot down by Pilot Officer McColl (V7372 ‘TP-W’), both Giovanni Accorsi and Callerani losing their lives in the subsequent crash. As the CR.42s dived down in a vain attempt to assist the doomed transport, the Hurricanes turned to engage. In the ensuing combat Chiarini was shot down and killed by Pilot Officer George Goodman (victory number 7 of 10 totally) of 73 Squadron (Hurricane Mk.I V7716 ‘TP-U’).
Meanwhile, Antonio Camerini shot down a Hurricane (V7491) flown by Pilot Officer Ken M. Millist of 73 Squadron in a head-on attack.
Millist aircraft was hit in the engine and he made a forced-landing ten miles north-east of Benina. For two days, without food or water, Millist – known as ‘Tiny’ due to his height, in excess of six feet – walked and hid, being chased on one occasion by an Italian motorcyclist whom he successfully evaded. On the third day he met an Australian army sergeant who gave him food and water before helping him to obtain a lift to Derna. Of Millist’s plight, his colleague Pilot Officer Bill Eiby recalled:

“When he was shot down by the vintage biplane everyone laughed their bloody heads off. He went in head-on. We were told not to tackle them head-on, but Tiny did and got hit in the radiator for his pains.”

Masenti ended the war with 1 biplane victory.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
	30/09/40	11:05-13:00	1/3	Blenheim (a)	Shared destroyed	Fiat CR.42		100km NW Gambut G	78a Squadriglia
	1941
1	23/01/41	05:55-	1	Blenheim (b)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.42		Derna area	368a Squadriglia

Biplane victories: 1 and 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 1 and 1 shared destroyed.
(a) Claimed in combat with Blenheims from 113 Squadron, which got two damaged aircraft and lost Blenheim T2171 with its crew KIA (Sergeant Leslie Cater, Sergeant Kenneth Herbert Meadowcroft and Sergeant Bernard James Shelton) while claiming two CR.42s. Italian fighters from the 78^a Squadriglia claimed one and one shared destroyed without losses.
(b) Claimed in combat with Blenheims from 45 Squadron, which didn’t suffer any losses.

Sources:
2^o Stormo - Note storiche dal 1925 al 1975 - Gino Strada, 1975 USSMA, Rome, kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
Aces High - Christopher Shores and Clive Williams, 1994 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-898697-00-0
Fighters over the Desert - Christopher Shores and Hans Ring, 1969 Neville Spearman Limited, London
Hurricanes over Tobruk - Brian Cull with Don Minterne, 1999 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-11-X
Stormi d'Italia – Giulio Lazzati, 1975 Mursia, Milan, ISBN 88-425-1946-4, kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro. The Bristol Blenheim: A complete history – Graham Warner, 2002 Crécy Publishing Limited, Manchester, ISBN 0-947554-92-0
Additional information kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro and Ludovico Slongo.