A little off topic, there is an amusing account of Mussolini begging Hitler to transport a bunch of stuff from/to Albania & Italy, in support of his floundering invasion of Greece (1940).
At first glance, the SM.82 appears much more capable. However,
the Italians claimed that the Regia Aeronautica’s Savoia-Marchetti S.82 transports were not available because of commitments in the Mediterranean and Africa.
Additionally, from the accounts I have read, it appears the SM.82 practically
self-combusted at the first sign of enemy fighters. But the Ju-52s appears to have had no issue.
Once missions commenced, there was no interruption from enemy aircraft, either in the air during the 320-km flight to and from Tirana, or on the ground, with the exception of one RAF bombing raid on Foggia, which failed to inflict any damage. Formation flights were usually made in daylight in Ketten of three aircraft, each Kette taking off at five-minute intervals. During the first phase of operations up until mid-January 1941, the Ju 52/3ms achieved around 100 flights per day, reducing to approximately 60 during the final weeks of the operation, but there were ten days when adverse weather precluded any flying. Over a total of 50 days of flying, III./KG.z.b.V.1 flew 4028 sorties to Tirana, of which 1665 were predominantly troop transport and 2363 were mainly for the ferrying of supplies. Altogether, 28,871 Italian soldiers were ferried to Albania along with 4700 tons of supplies, while some 10,941 personnel, of whom 8730 were wounded, were brought back to Italy. No aircraft were lost during the Tirana flights, which, while undertaken in conditions akin to peacetime, nevertheless provided invaluable experience for later Luftwaffe transport missions to and from North Africa.
Forsyth, Robert. Ju 52/3m Bomber and Transport Units 1936-41 (Combat Aircraft) (p. 120). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Another account....
- TheJunkersStory.JPG (206.11 KiB) Viewed 477 times
https://www.amazon.com/Junkers-Ju-52-St ... 178155515X
FYI...
https://www.airmilescalculator.com/distance/tia-to-fog/
