Teresio Vittorio Martinoli

Teresio Vittorio Martinoli
Born (1917-03-26)26 March 1917
Novara, Italy
Died 25 August 1944(1944-08-25) (aged 27)
Allegiance Italy
Service/branch Regia Aeronautica
Aeronautica Militare Italiana
Years of service 1938 – 1944
Rank Sergente Maggiore
Unit 366ª Squadriglia, 151° Gruppo, 53° Stormo (RA); 384ª Squadriglia, 157° Gruppo; 78ª Squadriglia, 13° Gruppo, 2° Stormo; 9° Gruppo, 4° Stormo
Battles/wars Second World War
Awards Medaglia d'Oro al Valor Militare
Medaglia d’Argento al Valor Militare
German Iron Cross second class

Teresio Vittorio Martinoli, MOVM, (26 March 1917 – 25 August 1944) was an Italian World War II fighter pilot in the Regia Aeronautica and in the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force (ICBAF). During the war, he fought over Libya and Tunisia, in North Africa, on Malta, and was involved in the defence of the Italian mainland. Martinoli has been credited with 22 air victories and 14 shared destroyed in 276 sorties. Flying the Fiat C.R.42 biplane and Macchi C.202 and C.205 monoplanes, he shot down: a Gloster Gladiator, Bristol Blenheims, Hawker Hurricanes, Curtiss P-40s, Spitfires, and a Junkers Ju 52, the last after the Armistice of Cassibile.

He lost his life in a flying accident on 25 August 1944, while converting from the C.205 to the P-39 Airacobra.[1]

Before World War II

Martinoli gained a glider pilot's licence in 1937. The following year, he was enlisted in the Regia Aeronautica, and after a military flying course at Ghedi, was assigned to 366ª Squadriglia of 151° Gruppo (53°Stormo) with the rank of Sergente Pilota.[2] Subsequently he was posted to the 384ª Squadriglia, 157° Gruppo.

North Africa and Malta

He claimed his first air victory, just three days after Italy entered war, on 13 June 1940. His first victim was a bomber, most probably a French Potez 630, shot down over Tunis, while flying his Fiat CR.42. Then he was posted to 78ª Squadriglia, 13° Gruppo of 2° Stormo and on 13 October he claimed a Gloster Gladiator (most probably from No. 112 Squadron RAF), while escorting a Savoia-Marchetti S.79, on Mersa Matruh, Egypt. After he had transferred to 4° Stormo (that became his permanent unit), in autumn 1941, he flew fighter sweeps over Malta, from Comiso in Sicily. Flying the Macchi C.202, in just two months, he claimed three Hurricanes (two on 19 October 1941) and a Blenheim. Still over Malta, he was credited with the destruction of three Spitfires (plus one probable) between 4 and 16 May 1942.[3]

Home Defence

During the summer of 1943, he took part in the defence of Sicily and Italy.

On 4 July, he claimed a P-38 Lightning and a shared Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress over Sicily.

Aeronautica Co-Belligerante

After the armistice of 8 September, he joined the Aeronautica Co-Belligerante (Co-Belligerent Air Force), fighting alongside the Allies. He flew, with other 4° Stormo pilots, sorties to Yugoslavia, attacking the German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. He shot down a Junkers Ju-52/3m over Podgorica, on 1 November 1943, after a dogfight with two Messerschmitt Bf 109s. It was his last air victory.

He was killed in a flying accident on 25 August 1944, at Campo Vesuvio air base, while training on one of the second-hand Bell P 39s that had just been delivered to the Co-Belligerent Air Force.[4]

Awards

Martinoli was posthumously awarded the Medaglia d'oro al Valor Militare (Gold Medal of Military Valor). He had been previously decorated with two Silver Medals and the German Iron Cross Second Class.

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Dimensione Cielo 1972, p. 65.
  2. ↑ Massimello and Apostolo 2000, p. 48.
  3. ↑ Massimello and Apostolo 2000, p. 59.
  4. ↑ Dimensione Cielo 1972, p. 78.
Bibliography
  • "Caccia Assalto 3." Dimensione Cielo Aerei italiani nella 2° guerra mondiale (in Italian). Rome: Edizioni Bizzarri, 1972.
  • Lioy, Vincenzo. Gloria senza allori (in Italian). Roma: Associazione Arma Aeronautica, 1953.
  • Lazzati, Giulio. Ali nella tragedia (in Italian). Milano: Mursia, 1970.
  • Lazzati, Giulio. I soliti Quattro gatti (in Italian). Milano: Mursia, 1965.
  • Massimello, Giovanni and Giorgio Apostolo. Italian Aces of World War Two. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2000. ISBN 978-1-84176-078-0.
  • Neulen, Hans Werner. In the Skies of Europe. Ramsbury, Marlborough, UK: The Crowood Press, 2000. ISBN 1-86126-799-1.
  • Palermo, Michele, Eagles over Gazala - air battles on North Africa May–June 1942, Roma: IBN Editore, 2014. ISBN 88-7565-168-X.
  • Pesce, Giuseppe and Giovanni Massimello. Adriano Visconti Asso di guerra (in Italian). Parma: Albertelli editore s.r.l., 1997.
  • Sgarlato, Nico. C.202 Lo chiamavano il Macchi (in Italian). Parma: Delta Editrice, 2008.
  • Sgarlato, Nico. "Macchi Folgore" (in Italian). Aerei Nella Storia 1998 (8): 8-20. Parma, Italy: West-Ward sas.
  • Shores, Christopher. Air Aces. Greenwich, CT: Bison Books, 1983. ISBN 0-86124-104-5.
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