Of WW2 history, the Axis plans to attack America are not that well-known past Pearl Harbor and the isolated Japanese attack on Oregon. The FUGO intercontinental balloons and Panama Canal mission remain obscure, but beyond that the German advanced plans and Italian lesser plans are very-little known. The Italians from 1942 planned to use 3 different types of planes to hit NY and the eastern ports- the Piaggio P.23R, the CANT Z.511A, and the Savoia-Marchetti SM-95. The last had permission, but the Armistice in 1943 prevented that one. My first story is of the P.23R raid which was thought-out by test pilot Nicolo Lana and proposed to the Italian AF. He would pilot the plane with a flight engineer named Maiao. The speed and distance plane would be converted over to bomber with an overload of fuel for maximum range carrying a 2,200 aerial mine to be dropped on NY for propaganda purposes. As the plane would lighten as fuel was spent the pilot would turn off one and then two of the three engines to make the attack after which he would ditch the aircraft near the Nantucket Lighthouse to be picked up by a loitering Italian submarine. But the Italian AF rejected his idea b/c they wanted an Italian warplane to do the job with a military crew- the Z.511A and later the SM-95. The sole PR.23R was damaged at Albenga anyway in a strong crosswind landing, so that settled that!!!

http://www.riverpool.com/images/Piaggio%20P.23R.jpg http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/CrupiRay/10151.jpg