Major Adriano Visconti di Lampugnano (11 November 1915 – 29 April 1945) was one of Italy's top

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

s of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, shooting down between 10 and 26 enemy aircraft. He was awarded with four '' Medaglia d'argento al Valor Militare'' and two '' Medaglia di Bronzo al Valor Militare "in action"''.

Early years

The son of Count Galeazzo Visconti and Cecilia Dall'Aglio, he was born in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

Italian Libya Libya ( it, Libia; ar, ليبيا, Lībyā al-Īṭālīya) was a colony of the Fascist Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica ...

. His parents were two Italian colonists who settled in

Tripolitania Tripolitania ( ar, طرابلس '; ber, Ṭrables, script=Latn; from Vulgar Latin: , from la, Regio Tripolitana, from grc-gre, Τριπολιτάνια), historically known as the Tripoli region, is a historic region and former province o ...

in 1911. Since he was a teenager he displayed a passion for aircraft. He joined the Italian

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

(''

Regia Aeronautica The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') 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 1946, the monarchy was abolis ...

'') in October 1936 and completed his pilot training at the Accademia Aeronautica in

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 Camp ...

Career

Visconti graduated on the Breda BA25, and later flew RO41s. In 1939 he was commissioned as a

Sub-Lieutenant Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces. In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

('' Sottotenente Pilota'') and posted to the

Breda 65 The Breda Ba.65 was an Italian all-metal single-engine, low-wing monoplane used by ''Aviazione Legionaria'' during the Spanish Civil War and ''Regia Aeronautica'' in the first half of World War II. It was the only Italian ground-attack aircraf ...

equipped 159ª ''Squadriglia'', 12º''Gruppo'' 50º ''Stormo'', a ground attack unit based at

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near ...

. 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 The Breda Ba.65 was an Italian all-metal single-engine, low-wing monoplane used by ''Aviazione Legionaria'' during the Spanish Civil War and '' Regia Aeronautica'' in the first half of World War II. It was the only Italian ground-attack aircr ...

had been attacked by three 33 Squadron

Gladiators A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

but, because of his skill as a pilot, Visconti and his crew escaped the encounter.Pesce con Massimello 1997, p. 23. 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''. By January 1941 50º ''Stormo'' had taken such heavy losses that the unit was disbanded. Visconti was detached to the 54º ''Stormo'', 7º ''Gruppo'', 76ª ''Squadriglia'', where he learned to fly the

Macchi C.200 The Macchi C.200 Saetta (Italian: "Lightning"), or MC.200, was a fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by Aeronautica Macchi in Italy. Various versions were flown by the ''Regia Aeronautica'' (Italian Air Force) who used the type throughou ...

. He then flew the superior Macchi C.202 from the end of 1941 until the

Italian Armistice The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brigad ...

of September 8, 1943. On 22 December 1941, in a dogfight over

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, he was credited with a "probable"

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

. His first official air victory was on the 15 June 1942, when he shot down a

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until ...

near the island of

Pantelleria Pantelleria (; Sicilian: ''Pantiddirìa'', Maltese: ''Pantellerija'' or ''Qawsra''), the ancient Cossyra or Cossura, is an Italian island and comune in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and east of the Tunis ...

. 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 The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

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 Military valour).Pesce con Massimello 1997, p. 50. After the armistice, Visconti continued to fly with the newly formed National Republican Air Force (''

Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana The National Republican Air Force ( it, Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, ANR) was the air force of the Italian Social Republic, a World War II German puppet state in Italy. Description This air force was tasked with defending the industri ...

'', or ANR) of the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

('' Repubblica Sociale Italiana'', or RSI). Shortly after joining the ANR, Visconti was promoted to

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, commanding the 1st Squadron in the 1st Gruppo Caccia. In May 1944, he was promoted to

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. Until the disbanding of the ANR in 1945, Visconti flew the

Macchi C.205 The Macchi C.205 ''Veltro'' ( it, Greyhound) (also known as MC.205, "MC" standing for "Macchi Castoldi") 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 ...

and the

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...

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 The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive tw ...

South of the

Piedmontese Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regard ...

city of

Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in ...

. 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 The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bomber ...

over

Lake Garda Lake Garda ( it, Lago di Garda or ; lmo, label=Eastern Lombard, Lach de Garda; vec, Ƚago de Garda; la, Benacus; grc, Βήνακος) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, about halfway between ...

, on 14 March 1945, was in a Bf 109 G10 designated "3-4" but in reality was only a "claim", since the pilot he met in the 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", which was based on the notes taken at the time by Eddy in his notebook, allowing to retrace the combat and to understand that he was the "adversary" of Visconti (a fact completely unknown to Eddy himself till then).

Death

On April 29, 1945, Visconti surrendered to

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

partisans near

Malpensa Milan Malpensa Airport is the largest international airport in northern Italy, serving Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria, as well as the Swiss Canton of Ticino. The airport is northwest of Milan, next to the Ticino river dividing Lombardy and ...

airfield,

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, 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

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 della Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana''). There, at 2 p.m., Visconti and

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

(''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. Visconti and Stefanini were initially hastily buried in the courtyard of the barracks of Savoy Cavalry. In May 1945, a group of fellow aviators and friends, including Giuseppe Robetto, Ugo Diappi, Luigi Botto and Irma Rachelli, arranged for the bodies to be moved to

Cimitero Monumentale di Milano The Cimitero Monumentale (" Monumental Cemetery") is one of the two largest cemeteries in Milan, Italy, the other one being the Cimitero Maggiore. It is noted for the abundance of artistic tombs and monuments. Designed by the architect Carlo Ma ...

Notes

Bibliography

* D'Amico, Ferdinando and Valentini, Gabriele. "L'uomo che abbattè Visconti" - issue n.3 - March 1989 of "JP4 Aeronautica". * Beale, Nick, D'Amico, Ferdinando and Valentini, Gabriele. ''Air War Italy, Axis Air Forces from Liberation of Rome to the Surrender''. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife, 1996. . *Massimello, Giovanni and Apostolo, Giorgio. ''Italian Aces of World War 2; Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 34''. Botley, Oxford UK: Osprey Publishing, 2000. * Pesce, Giuseppe con Giovanni Massimello. ''Adriano Visconti Asso di guerra''. Parma: Albertelli Edizioni speciali s.r.l. 1997

External links

Blohm & Voss BV P.207.03 Single Seat Pusher Fighter
with information about Visconti {{DEFAULTSORT:Visconti, Adriano 1915 births 1945 deaths Italian Air Force personnel Italian aviators Italian World War II flying aces Italian military personnel killed in World War II Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor

Adriano Adriano or Adrião is the form of the Latin given name ''Hadrianus'' commonly used in the Italian language; the form Adrian is used in the English language. Notable people with the name include: * Adriano Banchieri, Italian composer, music theori ...