Adriano Visconti
Encyclopedia
House of Visconti
Visconti is the family name of two important Italian noble dynasties of the Middle Ages. There are two distinct Visconti families: The first one in the Republic of Pisa in the mid twelfth century who achieved prominence first in Pisa, then in Sardinia where they became rulers of Gallura...
di Lampugnano (11 November 1915 - 29 April 1945) was one of Italy's top flying ace
Flying ace
A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...
s of the Second World War, shooting down between 10 to 26 enemy aircraft. He was awarded with four Medaglia d'argento al Valor Militare
Silver Medal of Military Valor
The Silver Medal of Military Valor is an Italian medal for gallantry.Italian medals for valor were first instituted by Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia on May 21, 1793, with a gold medal, and, below it, a silver medal...
and two Medaglia di Bronzo al Valor Militare "in action"
Bronze Medal of Military Valor
The Bronze Medal of Military Valor is an Italian medal for gallantry.It was established by Charles Albert of Sardinia on March 26, 1833, along with the higher ranking Gold and Silver Medals for Military valor...
.
Early years
The son of Count Galeazzo Visconti and Cecilia Dall'Aglio, he was born in TripoliTripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
, Libya
Italian North Africa
Italian North Africa was the aggregate of territories and colonies controlled by Italy in North Africa from 1911 until World War II...
.
He joined the Italian Royal Air Force
Regia Aeronautica
The Italian Royal Air Force was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946...
(Regia Aeronautica
Regia Aeronautica
The Italian Royal Air Force was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946...
) in October 1936, and completed his pilot training at the Royal Flight Academy in Caserta
Caserta
Caserta is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial and industrial comune and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Campanian Subapennine mountain range...
.
Career
Visconti graduated on the Breda BA25Breda Ba.25
|-See also:-External links:**...
, and later flew RO41s. In 1939 he was commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is a military rank. It is normally a junior officer rank.In many navies, a sub-lieutenant is a naval commissioned or subordinate officer, ranking below a lieutenant. In the Royal Navy the rank of sub-lieutenant is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the British Army and of...
Pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
(Sottotenente Pilota
Italian Army Ranks
This chart represents the Italian Army rank insignia used on the slip-on of winter service uniforms. The color of the uniforms is khaki.Officers who are assigned to a position acting in a higher rank than their own wear the insignia of the higher rank but the highest star of the insignia is trimmed...
) and posted to the Breda 65 equipped 159ª Squadriglia, 12ºGruppo 50º Stormo, a ground attack unit based at Tobruk
Tobruk
Tobruk or Tubruq is a city, seaport, and peninsula on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District and has a population of 120,000 ....
. He was soon briefly posted to 2º Gruppo Aviazione Presidio Coloniale's 23ª Squadriglia for disciplinary reasons, but was allowed to return to his original unit for "heroism under fire": Visconti's Breda Ba 65 had been attacked by three 33 Squadron
No. 33 Squadron RAF
No. 33 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Puma HC.1 from RAF Benson, Oxfordshire.-Current role:The squadron is part of the RAF Support Helicopter force, which reports into the Joint Helicopter Command....
Gladiators
Gloster Gladiator
The Gloster Gladiator was a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. It was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it...
but, because of his skill as a pilot, Visconti and his crew escaped the encounter. For this action, in addition to being allowed to return to 50º Stormo, Visconti was awarded the first of his Medaglia di Bronzo. From June 1940 until the end of that year he flew continually without leave, and was awarded another Bronze medal and two Medaglia d'argento.
Armistice with Italy
The Armistice with Italy was an armistice signed on September 3 and publicly declared on September 8, 1943, during World War II, between Italy and the Allied armed forces, who were then occupying the southern end of the country, entailing the capitulation of Italy...
of September 8, 1943.
On 22 December 1941, in a dogfight over Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, he was credited with a "probable" Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
. His first official air victory was on the 15 June 1942, when he shot down a Bristol Blenheim
Bristol Blenheim
The Bristol Blenheim was a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was adapted as an interim long-range and night fighter, pending the availability of the Beaufighter...
near the island of Pantelleria
Pantelleria
Pantelleria , the ancient Cossyra, is an Italian island in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and just east of the Tunisian coast. Administratively Pantelleria is a comune belonging to the Sicilian province of Trapani...
. On 13 August 1942 while flying with a wingman in a formation of two C.202s on a reconnaissance flight over Malta looking for a shipping convoy, the Italian aircraft were bounced by four Supermarine Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
escorting the ships. Visconti, only flying the Macchi for the second time, was able to shoot down two Spitfires and damage the other two, allowing the other Macchi to complete the reconnaissance mission. For this double air victory, Visconti was awarded a Medaglia d'Argento al Valor Militare (Silver Medal of Militar valour).
After the armistice, Visconti continued to fly with the newly formed National Republican Air Force
Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana
thumb|250px|Wing emblem of the A.N.R. from 1944 to 1945.The National Republican Air Force was the air force of the Italian Social Republic during World War II, closely linked with the German Air Force in northern Italy.-Description:This air force was tasked with defending the industrial areas of...
(Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana
Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana
thumb|250px|Wing emblem of the A.N.R. from 1944 to 1945.The National Republican Air Force was the air force of the Italian Social Republic during World War II, closely linked with the German Air Force in northern Italy.-Description:This air force was tasked with defending the industrial areas of...
, or ANR) of the Italian Social Republic
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini and his Republican Fascist Party. The RSI exercised nominal sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
(Repubblica Sociale Italiana
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini and his Republican Fascist Party. The RSI exercised nominal sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
, or RSI). Shortly after joining the ANR, Visconti was promoted to Captain, commanding the 1st Squadron in the 1st Gruppo Caccia. In May 1944, he was promoted to Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
.
Until the disbanding of the ANR in 1945, Visconti flew the Macchi C.205
Macchi C.205
The Macchi C.205 Veltro was an Italian World War II fighter aircraft built by the Aeronautica Macchi. Along with the Reggiane Re.2005 and Fiat G.55, the Macchi C.205 was one of the three "Serie 5" Italian fighters built around the powerful Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine...
and the Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
G-10. He was credited with his first "kill" with the ANR on 3 January 1944, when, flying a C.205, he downed a P-38 Lightning
P-38 Lightning
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament...
South of the Piedmontese city of Cuneo
Cuneo
Cuneo is a city and comune in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the third largest of Italy’s provinces by area...
.
Visconti was wounded on several occasions, but never seriously.
Although he never claimed more than ten kills some later source credited him with 26. Most of his victories were while flying the Macchi 205V; the last, a P-47 over Lake Garda
Lake Garda
Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy. It is located in Northern Italy, about half-way between Brescia and Verona, and between Venice and Milan. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last ice age...
, on 14 March 1945, was in a Bf 109 G10
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
designated "3-4" but in reality was only a "claim", since the pilot he met in a head-on dogfight, wasn't actually shot down.
In fact, on the 14th of March 1945 Adriano Visconti was shot down, by the USAAF pilot, 2nd/Lt Charles Clark Eddy Jr. in a P-47 he named "Chickenbones" of 346th FS, 350th FG. They were in a dogfight in the Lake Garda area when Visconti's plane was hit and disabled by Eddy in a frontal attack, Visconti parachuted out at a very low altitude and survived his moderate wounds, while Eddy's P-47 came back safely to his Pisa airbase. This story can be verified by reading the article "L'UOMO CHE ABBATTE' VISCONTI" (THE MAN WHO SHOT DOWN VISCONTI), in the 3rd of March 1989 issue of the Italian magazine "Aeronautica", article using the notes taken at the time by Eddy in his notebook, which allowed to retrace the combat and to understand that it was him the "adversary" of Visconti (a fact completely unknown to Eddy himself till then...).
Death
On April 29, 1945, Visconti surrendered to communist partisanPartisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
s near Malpensa airfield, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, only after he was assured that none of the air and ground personnel of his unit would be killed in retaliatory attacks. His safety was assured by the mayor of Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
as well, when he was first taken for interrogation. Visconti and the other officers were taken on two buses to the barracks of Savoy Cavalry (Savoia Cavalleria) in via Vincenzo Monti. The barracks was then the command of National Republican Guard Intendancy (Intendenza of Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana)). There, at 2 p.m., Visconti and Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
(tenente) Valerio Stefanini, his close collaborator, were seemingly taken for a routine interrogation. They were both shot in the back by a Russian bodyguard of the communist partisan leader "Iso". The Russian was charged with murder but was later discharged because the crime had occurred before 8 May 1945, the official end of the war in Italy, and was therefore considered an act of war.
External links
- Blohm & Voss BV P.207.03 Single Seat Pusher Fighter, with information about Visconti