Angelo Zanaria was born in Trecate on 11 November 1919.

In May 1941, Sergente Zanaria served in the 3^o Gruppo Autonomo C.T., which was equipped with Fiat CR.42s.

In the beginning of May 1941, a convoy of five fast freighters steamed for Alexandria (Operation Tiger) together with Force H from Gibraltar. To meet this convoy the Mediterranean Fleet left Alexandria on 6 May to rendezvous with it south of Malta. The Tiger convoy escaped discovery until 8 May due to bad weather and poor visibility but was then on to became the focus for the air battles for the next four days.
HMS Ark Royal of Force H had embarked a second squadron of Fulmars to replace the low-performance Skuas of 800 Squadron. This was 807 Squadron under Lieutenant Commander J. Sholto Douglas who was to assist the resident Fulmars of 808 Squadron under Lieutenant Commander Rupert Tillard. However, only twelve aircraft were serviceable this morning.
The early morning patrol had been vectored towards an Italian ‘shadower’ and although this was spotted it could not be intercepted, so all now knew that the assault would soon commence.
The first incoming raid was reported at about 13:45, still 32 miles from the ships. This first raid comprised of five torpedo bombers (SM 79s) of the 280^o Squadriglia, which had taken off from Elmas airfield near Calgari, Sardinia. These were flown by Capitano Dante Magagnoli, Capitano Amedeo Moioli, Capitano Ugo Rivoli, Tenente Marino Marini and Sottotenente Francesco Cappa. They were escorted by 15 CR.42s of 3^o Gruppo C.T., eight from 153^a Squadriglia and seven from 154^a Squadriglia, all led by the gruppo commander Tenente Colonnello Innocenzo Monti; these fighters departed Monserrato (also near Cagliari) at 12:05, nine providing close escort with the other six as top cover. Weather conditions were very poor, with a low cloud ceiling and limited visibility. Nonetheless, the British ships were sighted at 13:40, some 120 miles south of Sardinia.
Two sections (four aircraft) of 807 Squadron were scrambled to join the four Fulmars of 808 Squadron on patrol, these latter aircraft intercepting the incoming SM 79s, but as Lieutenant Commander Tillard led the attack they were themselves bounced by a dozen of the escorting CR.42s. Almost immediately Tillard’s Fulmar was shoot down after having ignored the advice he had been given to not get involved in a turning ‘dogfight’ with the CR.42s. He and his observer, Lieutenant Mark Somerville, were killed. 34-year-old Lieutenant Commander Tillard was credited with 6 and 1 shared destroyed enemy aircraft at the time of his death. The three other Fulmars were also hit, the aircraft of both Lieutenant G. C. McE. Guthrie and Petty Officer (A) R. E. Dubber sustaining damage to their tail units, while in Lieutenant Taylour’s aircraft the TAG, Petty Officer (A) L. G. T. Howard received a severe leg wound, an explosive bullet shattering both tibia and fibula. One CR.42 overshot their aircraft and Taylour managed to score hits on it, forcing it into a spin from which he considered it would not be able to recover. Having evaded the other CR.42s, Taylour headed for the carrier with his wounded TAG, where only prompt and skilful action by HMS Ark Royal’s surgeon prevented the loss of Howard’s leg.
The 280^o Squadriglia reported that all pilots managed to release torpedoes, Moioli and Magagnoli claiming to have hit a cruiser. However, all five SM 79s had been badly damaged, and although three got back to Elmas, Sottotenente Marini’s aircraft was hit and crashed near La Galite (they got ashore on the island in their dinghy and a French flying boat took the crew to Tunisia, from where they later was repatriated) and Sottotenente Cappa (SM 79 MM23872), hit by cannon fire, launched a torpedo against a large ship from close range, and then disappeared into the water with the loss of all the crew. Cappa was awarded a posthumous Medaglia d’oro al valor militare.
All but three of the CR.42s would return to base 14:30 and 14:40 but Tenente Massimino Mancini’s (153^a Squadriglia) had been damaged and he had to crash-land, as did Sergente Maggiore Guerrino Cavalca, who had run out of fuel. Sergente Giuseppe Zani of the 153^a Squadriglia was MiA in MM7203.
Meanwhile, a further formation of five SM 79s from the 32^o Stormo had taken off from Decimomannu some time after the initial raiding force, covered by ten more 3^o Gruppo CR.42s led by Capitano Giorgio Tugnoli (five from each squadriglie). It would seem to be with this formation that the four 807 Squadron Fulmars made contact, Lieutenant N. G. Hallett and his No. 2 – Petty Officer (A) A. G. Johnson – hitting one bomber; however, the gunner returned fire, hitting Hallett’s engine forcing him to ditch. Both he and his Australian observer, Lieutenant V. A. Smith, managed to scramble out and were soon picked up by the destroyer HMS Foresight. Meanwhile the two Blue Section aircraft flown by Lieutenant R. E. ‘Jimmie’ Gardner and South African Lieutenant K. Firth attacked the same SM 79, which was probably that flown by Capitano Armando Boetto, commanding officer of the 49^a Squadriglia; Blue 1 got in the final burst before it disinter grated and fell into the sea. A second SM 79 flown by Sottotenente Michele Fonseca of 228^a Squadriglia was also lost. Eight of the bombers broke through the defences to launch torpedoes at the HMS Ark Royal and the battlecruiser HMS Renown, but without obtaining hits.
Totally, the Italian pilots from the 3^o Gruppo claimed five Fulmars shot down (two more were claimed by the SM 79 gunners). Claimants were Capitano Tugnoli, Tenente Mancini (153^a Squadriglia), Tenente Elio Broganelli (154^a Squadriglia) and Sottotenente Cesare Ciapetti (154^a Squadriglia). The fifth was claimed as a shared between Sottotenente Ciapetti, Sergente Zanaria and an unknown pilot. Five further Fulmars were credited to the fighter units as probables.
These were the only combat with biplane fighters over the convoy during the day but the battle continued all day. The protecting Fulmars nevertheless managed to protect the fleet and no ships were sunk.

During a convoy escort on 20 October by the CR.42s of the 153^a Squadriglia, 3^o Gruppo, early in the afternoon, Sergente Zanaria crashed into the sea with MM7515 for no obvious reason, the pilot being killed.

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

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1941
	08/05/41	13:45-14:40	1/3	Fulmar (a)	Shared destroyed	Fiat CR.42		off Sardinia	3o Gruppo

Biplane victories: 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 1 shared destroyed.
(a) Claimed in combat with Fulmars from 807 and 808 FAA Squadrons, which claimed one probable CR.42 while losing two Fulmars and getting three damaged. 3^o Gruppo claimed five Fulmars and five more probable while losing three CR.42s.

Sources:
A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945: Volume One – Christopher Shores and Giovanni Massimello with Russell Guest, 2012 Grub Street, London, ISBN 978-1908117076
Malta: The Hurricane Years 1940-41 - Christopher Shores and Brian Cull with Nicola Malizia, 1987 Grub Street, London, ISBN 0-89747-207-1
Ministero della Difesa
Additional information kindly provided by Bruce Buchanan, Antonio Maraziti and Ludovico Slongo.