5 April 1913 – 18 February 1977

Aroldo Soffritti was born on 5 April 1913 in Bondeno (Ferrara).

Soffritti received his military wings in October 1934. After a period of service in Libya and another in Gorizia in the ranks of 4^o Stormo he apparently left active service to go to East Africa where he had obtained a lot of land in company with a farmer friend.

Here he was surprised by the war and rejoined the air force, initially in the bombers then in the 412^a Squadriglia, which was equipped with Fiat CR.42s.

At 14:00 on 29 January, 1 SAAF Squadron took off to attack Gura, with six Hurricanes (Major Lawrence Wilmot, Captain K. W. Driver, Lieutenants John Hewitson, Andrew Duncan, Hendrik Johannes Piet Burger and Leonard le Clues Theron) flying as top cover to five Gladiators, which would strafe. As they approached the Hurricanes run into several S.79s and a large number of CR.42s, which were seen over the airfield, the bombers having just returned from a raid over the front, and the fighters having scrambled at the approach of the South African aircraft. Captain Driver at once attacked an S.79 as it was going in to land, and shot it down in flames, two members of the crew baling out. The Gladiators then arrived, led by Captain Brian Boyle. These also met the Fiats, Lieutenant H. P. Smith and Lieutenant E. A. Jarvis each claiming one shot down.
Capitano Antonio Raffi, commander of the 412^a Squadriglia, was above with two of his pilots, Tenente Luciano Cacciavillani and Maresciallo Soffritti (they scrambled at 15:20), and he saw the Hurricane shoot down the S.79 before he could intervene. He then spotted the Gladiators, which he believed to be six strong, and at once, a great dogfight begun, during which the South Africans saw many Fiats falling away. Driver meanwhile had seen Adi Ugri landing ground on which four S.81s were dispersed, and attacking these, he left one (claimed as a S.79) in flames.
On return to base the combat with the Fiats was fully discussed, and it was decided that five had been shot down, one each by Lieutenant Smith and Lieutenant Jarvis, the other three being impossible to allocate to individual pilots. All the SAAF aircraft returned safely, although one Gladiator (N5831) had been hit by a single bullet.
This proves how easy it was to overestimate the damage caused, and indeed the numbers involved, in a whirling dogfight. Although several CR.42s were hit and damaged, none was in fact shot down. Capitano Raffi’s own aircraft was hit five times, while Tenente Cacciavillani's was badly damaged by 50 hits, and Maresciallo Soffritti's was also damaged. The Italians reported combat against four Hurricanes and six Gladiators and reported one Gladiator shot down. Tenente Cacciavillani fired 60 rounds of 7.7mm, and claimed a Gladiator probably destroyed (shared) (strangely enough, this claim has been cancelled by a pen line in his logbook).

On the Northern Front during the morning of 2 February 1941 a Lysander of 237 Squadron, N1206 flown by Flying Officer M. A. Johnson, was on tactical reconnaissance over the Scipitole-Tole road when it encountered three Ca.133s dropping supplies to troops at the front. Johnson at once attacked one of the bombers, forcing it to land and crash. Unknown to him however, the Capronis were escorted by three 412^a Squadriglia CR.42s, and these now attacked the Lysander. Sergeant J.G.P. Burl fired three pans of ammunition at them with the rear gun, seeing smoke from the engine of one fighter, but he was wounded in the wrist. The Lysanders controls were shot through and it crash-landed violently to the east of Tole, the pilot being rendered unconscious. The aircraft was claimed shot down by Soffritti. Under the fire from the fighters, which were strafing the wreckage, Burl managed to pull Johnson clear, both members of the crew subsequently being decorated.

On 7 February, two Wellesleys from 47 Squadron flown by Flight Officer Helsby (Wellesley K8525) and Sergeant Edwin Ellis Blofield (Wellesley K7759) made a road reconnaissance from Barentu to Adi Ugri. Over the latter location they were intercepted by the 412^a Squadriglia and were both shot down, one being claimed by Soffritti. 26-year-old Blofield (RAF no. 564554) was killed in the ensuing crash.
On a later mission the same day Soffritti claimed a Hurricane.

On 19 March 1941, two 1 SAAF Squadron Hurricanes were patrolling over the Keren area when they were attacked by three 412^a Squadriglia CR.42s, Maresciallo Soffritti claiming to have shot down one of the South African fighters during a sortie between 15:00-17:20. Captain Brian Boyle’s aircraft was damaged but he returned safely to base.

Blenheims of 14 Squadron was attacking enemy targets in the Keren area in the evening on on 25 March 1941 when they were intercepted by three CR.42. Both were damaged but got back with their crews unhurt. The Italians claimed one shot down by Soffritti and the other badly damaged.

Between 07:10 and 08:30 on 28 March 1941, Soffritti claimed to have shot down a Hurricane in the Ad Teclesan area on the Northern Front.

Over Eritrea on 4 April 1941, Soffritti claimed to have shot down a British bomber between 07:30 and 08:05; no losses by the RAF appear to have been recorded.

On 26 April 1941, Soffritti was captured at Dessie, together with 10,000 men, including 6,000 Italians, 52 guns, 236 machine guns and 240 lorries, thus ending his part in the East African campaign.

At the time of his capture, Aroldo Soffritti was credited with 8 biplane victories, 5 probables, 11 destroyed on the ground.

During the war, he was decorated with two Medaglie d’argento al Valore Militare.

Soffritti returned to Italy in 1946.

Soffritti passed away in Milan on 18 February 1977.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
?	02/02/41		1	Lysander (a)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.42		E Tole	412a Squadriglia
?	07/02/41		1	Wellesley (b)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.42		Adi Ugri	412a Squadriglia
?	07/02/41		1	Hurricane (c)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.42			412a Squadriglia
?	19/03/41	15:00-17:20	1	Hurricane (d)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.42		Keren area	412a Squadriglia
?	25/03/41	16:30-18:20	1	Blenheim (e)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.42		Keren area	412a Squadriglia
?	28/03/41	07:10-08:30	1	Hurricane (f)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.42		Ad Teclesan area	412a Squadriglia
?	04/04/41	07:30-08:05	1	enemy bomber (g)	Destroyed	Fiat CR.42			412a Squadriglia

Biplane victories: 8 destroyed, 5 probables, 11 destroyed on the ground.
TOTAL: 8 destroyed, 5 probables, 11 destroyed on the ground.
(a) Lysander (N1206) of 237 Squadron, flown by Flying Officer M. A. Johnson; destroyed, crew survived the crash.
(b) Wellesleys from 47 Squadron, flown by Flight Officer Helsby (Wellesley K8525) and Sergeant E.E. Blofield (Wellesley K7759); both shot down and Blofield killed.
(c) This claim isn’t confirmed with British sources.
(d) Claimed as destroyed but only damaged as Captain Boyle of 1 SAAF Squadron managed to fly his damaged Hurricane safely back to base.
(e) Regia Aeronautica claimed on destroyed and one damaged; two Blenheims of 14 Squadron damaged, but returned safely to base.
(f) This claim isn’t confirmed with British sources.
(g) This claim isn’t confirmed with British sources.

Sources:
Luciano Cacciavillani's personal logbook courtesy of Cacciavillani family (Luciano jr and Alberto)
Assi Italiani Della Caccia 1936-1945 - 1999 Aerofan no. 69 apr.-giu. 1999, kindly provided by Jean Michel Cala
Dust Clouds in the Middle East - Christopher Shores, 1996 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-898697-37-X
Italian Aces of World War 2 - Giovanni Massimello and Giorgio Apostolo, 2000 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 1-84176-078-1
Additional information kindly provided by Stefano Lazzaro, Andrea Melis, Michele Palermo, Ludovico Slongo, Pelham Temple and Ariella Soffritti.