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

Vittorio Romandini was from Trani (Bari).

Romandini served as a volunteer during the Spanish Civil War.

Romadini (far left) at Palma de Mallorca, Spain, in 1939.
Image kindly provided by Fulvio Chianese at GORIZIA ed il QUARTO STORMO.

When Italy declared war on the Great Britain and France on 10 June 1940, he 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 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).

Nine aircraft from both 113 and 55 Squadrons were briefed to attack the airfields of El Adem and El Gubbi at dawn on 16 June. Three Blenheims (L8664, L8397 and L8390) of the latter Squadron failed to reach the target due to engine problems (a penalty of operating from desert airstrips). Reportedly, 25 Italian fighters, which spoiled their aim, heavily engaged those that bombed and although bombs were seen to fall among the parked aircraft, damage was estimate as slight. All bombers returned to base.
It seems that four aircraft (probably fighters) were slightly damaged at T2 and that Tenente Vincenzo Vanni of the 84^a Squadriglia was wounded.
During the attack on T2, four pilots (Tenente Enzo Martissa, Maresciallo Romandini, Sergente Alessandro Bladelli and Sergente Elio Miotto) of the 91^a Squadriglia were scrambled immediately. They intercepted three of the Blenheims and claimed two of them shot down. The victories were credited as shared to the four pilots as was common use for the 4^o Stormo at this stage of the war. In fact, because of this combat, Martissa was awarded with a Medaglia d’argento al valor militare for bravery and the official motivation of this award stated that he had shot down one of the British bombers individually.
Maresciallo Mario Bandini, Sergente Giuseppe Scaglioni and Sergente Corrado Patrizi (all of the 84^a Squadriglia) went to T3 on alarm duty and met six bombers coming back from that airfield. Bandini single-handed attacked the British planes claiming one of them. During the attack, he was wounded in the left arm by return fire but succeeded in coming back to T2 and displaying great calm, made a perfect landing and a complete debriefing before being carried to Tobruk’s hospital. Bandini was also awarded a Medaglia d’Argento al valor militare for bravery for this mission.
Scaglioni and Patrizi meanwhile attacked two Blenheims, empting their guns on them without seeing their opponents going down.
The only reported intercepted British bomber was Blenheim Mk.I L8531 from 55 Squadron flown by Flying Officer M. F. H. Fox (Observer Sergeant Nicholas and Wireless Operator/Air Gunner Leading Aircraftman Klines), which reported being attacked by a fighter that followed it opening fire and hitting both spars of the mainplane, the radio set and the stern frame. The plane was however able to return to Fuka without difficulty. Nothing is known about 113 and 211 Squadrons because of the total lack of records of these units for the period.

Romandini ended the war with 2 shared biplane victories.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
	16/06/40	dawn	1/4	Blenheim (a)	Shared destroyed	Fiat CR.42		Tobruk area	91a Squadriglia
	16/06/40	dawn	1/4	Blenheim (a)	Shared destroyed	Fiat CR.42		Tobruk area	91a Squadriglia

Biplane victories: 2 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 2 shared destroyed.
(a) Claimed in combat with Blenheims of 113 and 55 Squadrons, which didn’t suffer any losses.

Sources:
Desert Prelude: Early clashes June-November 1940 - Håkan Gustavsson and Ludovico Slongo, 2010 MMP books, ISBN 978-83-89450-52-4
Elenco Nominativo dei Militari dell’ A. M. Decorati al V. M. Durante it Periodo 1929 - 1945 2 Volume M - Z
Fiat CR.42 Aces of World War 2 - Håkan Gustavsson and Ludovico Slongo, 2009 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 978-1-84603-427-5
L’8^oGruppo caccia in due conflitti mondiali - Giuseppe Pesce, 1974 S.T.E.M. Mucchi, Modena, kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
L’aeronautica Italiana nella Seconda Guerra Mondiale I volume - Giuseppe Santoro, 1966 Second Edition, Editore Esse, Milano-Roma, kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
The Bristol Blenheim: A complete history – Graham Warner, 2002 Crécy Publishing Limited, Manchester, ISBN 0-947554-92-0
The Desert Air War 1939 – 1945 – Richard Townshend Bickers, 1991 Leo Cooper, London, ISBN 0-85052-216-1, kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
Additional information kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo.