El Feteyat - Tobruk

On June 28, 1940 at 05:30 PM, El Feteyat - Tobruk experienced a crash involving Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero, operated by Regia Aeronautica, with the event recorded near Tobruk Butnan (<U+0627><U+0644><U+0628><U+0637><U+0646><U+0627><U+0646>).

The flight was categorized as survey / patrol / reconnaissance and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

9 people were known to be on board, 9 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 9, crew fatalities: 9, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is terrorism act, hijacking, sabotage. The three engine aircraft left El Feteyat Airfield at 1700LT bound for Tobruk. Half way down, the crew informed ground he was about 160 km east of his departure point. While approaching Tobruk, the aircraft was hit by flak, went out of control and crashed in flames in the desert, some 60 km west of Tobruk. All nine occupants were killed, among them the Italian Minister of Aviation Italo Balbo. Crew: Marechal Italo Balbo, Pilot, Major Ottavio Frailich, copilot, Captain Gino Cappannini, flight engineer, Sergeant-Major Giuseppe Berti, radio navigator, Enrico Caretti, Lino Balbo, Claudio Brunelli, Nello Quilici, Cino Florio.

Aircraft reference details include registration I-MANU, MSN 32040, year of manufacture 26.