The IºGruppo Caccia, continued to use a combination of Macchi C.205 and Fiat G.55, however, due to many reasons, they barely operated from August to December 1944, when the first Bf.109G-12 trainers arrived. In December, 17 pilots of the Iº Gruppo Caccia, were moved to Rangsdorf, close to Berlin, to start a training course in a Messerschmitt Me.163 in order to adequate them to rocket fighters, however, since November, the rest of the squadron had been assigned to the Luftwaffe flying school at Holzkirchen as part of squadron's transition to the Bf.109G.
That way, by early February 1945 fifty-seven pilots of the IºGruppo were ready to operate with the Bf.109.
Therefore, 51, or, according to other sources, 52, Bf.109G-6, G-10s and even some K variants (which we will about them later in some other post) were bought from Germany and were available at the end of that same month. They were placed on the heath between Lonate Pozzolo and Malpensa airfields, both in Lombardy, close to Milan and were carefully camouflaged to protect them from Allied air raids. Unit's first combat operation took place on 14th March 1945 as they tried to intercept some B-25 Mitchells of the 321st Bomb Group near Lake Garda, but were bounced by P-47s of the 350th Fighter Group. After that mission, they had three dead pilots plus one wounded with three aircraft lost and six damaged with one P-47 claimed by Commander Adriano Visconti, leader of the Squadron.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109_operational_history#Combat_service_with_Italy
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. Bancarella Aeronautica - Ali Straniere in Italia 1 - Messerschmitt Bf 109 Italiani.
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