{"id":8596,"date":"2021-02-20T19:19:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T18:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.underwatertales.net\/2021\/02\/20\/immersione-a-santo-stefano-al-mare-il-relitto-dellaereo-br-20\/"},"modified":"2022-07-28T15:22:06","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T13:22:06","slug":"dive-in-santo-stefano-al-mare_-the-wreck-of-the-br-20-plane-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.underwatertales.net\/en\/2021\/02\/20\/dive-in-santo-stefano-al-mare_-the-wreck-of-the-br-20-plane-2\/","title":{"rendered":"DIVE IN SANTO STEFANO AL MARE: THE WRECK OF THE BR 20 PLANE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The dive on one of the best preserved aircraft wrecks in the entire Mediterranean Sea<\/strong>, on the Riviera di Ponente of Liguria, in front of Santo Stefano al Mare, between Sanremo and Imperia. Ideal for divers qualified for deep and technical diving<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n
\nThe BR20 on the bottom<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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A six-ton \u200b\u200b”stork”, made of steel and aluminum, with the fuselage still intact and the machine gun with the bullets still in the barrel, lies 47 meters deep, on the sand, in perfect trim, ready to be scanned underwater. It is the underwater wreck of the BR 20 Cicogna, a medium twin-engine bomber<\/strong>, produced by FIAT Aviazione in the 1930s and remained in service until the end of the Second World War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The term BR meant Bomber Rosatelli, from the surname of the engineer who had designed it. It was just over 16 meters long, with a wingspan of nearly 22 meters and could reach a maximum speed of almost 400 kilometers per hour with a range of three thousand kilometers.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
\nHistorical photo of the Rosatelli Bomber<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
Taking off a few hours earlier from the Cascina Vaga field, in Pavia, to be sent to bomb the naval base of Toulon, in France, the BR 20 and its crew never imagined that this would be the last time they would have flown over the sky of Santo Stefano al Mare.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The crews of the forty-third assault flock immediately sensed that it was not the ideal day to take off, noting the adverse weather conditions. But the order was peremptory!<\/p>\n\n\n
\n Flock of BR20s in flight<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
the first to take off, on that morning of June 13, 1940, were then the fighters then followed by the bombers. The Italian fighters, after having fought, had to return. The MM21505 bomber, under the command of Lieutenant Catalano, arrived late at the target and without the protection of the fighters that had now gone away, was hit several times, ending up out of action. Unable to return to reach the base, with only one malfunctioning engine, the entire crew decided to attempt a makeshift landing, once they reached the stretch of sea in front of Santo Stefano al Mare.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n The route of the BR20 of Santo Stefano<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
It sank almost immediately, dragging with it the gunsmith Tommasi Ferrari, the radio operator Salvatore Gaeta and the pilot lieutenant Simone Catalano. The second pilot, Marshal Ottavio Aliani, and the first motorist aviator Farris were the only survivors and were collected after two hours in the water by the boats on the coast that came out to help.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n The BR20 of Santo Stefano<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
Diving on the wreck of the BR 20 of Santo Stefano al Mare has always been on my personal wish list; ever since I started going underwater, with my more experienced dive buddies from the Valmessa Sub Diving Club who told me they had been there. I was thinking of the difficulty of going down to a depth of fifty meters, of how much experience I would have to accumulate before trying. I saw it photographed, leaning on the sand, on display on the wall above the counter of Bari Sub, the Turin shop where I supplied myself.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n The BR20 on the bottom with divers to explore it<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There has never been an opportunity in recent years. But I never stopped thinking about it. Not even when I dived to tell underwater stories of other plane wrecks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n