Bartolomeo "Meo" Costantini (14 February 1889 in

Vittorio Veneto Vittorio Veneto is a city and ''comune'' situated in the Province of Treviso, in the region of Veneto, Italy, in the northeast of Italy, between the Piave and the Livenza rivers, borders with the following municipalities: Alpago ( BL), Belluno ...

– 19 July 1941 in

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 ...

) was an Italian

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

and racing car driver, known for being the sporting manager of the

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French manufacturer of high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti. The cars w ...

car manufacturer.

Military service

He joined the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

(1911), and later became well known in World War I, where ''capitano'' Costantini became a

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 ...

with six victories flying a Spad in the ''Squadriglia degli Assi'', part of the

Corpo Aeronautico Militare The Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare (Military Aviation Corps) was formed as part of the Regio Esercito (Royal Army) on 7 January 1915, incorporating the Aviators Flights Battalion (airplanes), the Specialists Battalion (airships) and the Ballon ...

. Costantini used a

Spad VII The SPAD S.VII was the first of a series of highly successful biplane fighter aircraft produced by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) during the First World War. Like its successors, the S.VII was renowned as a sturdy and r ...

to score his first aerial victory in conjunction with Prince

Fulco Ruffo di Calabria Fulco VIII, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda (12 August 1884 – 23 August 1946) was an Italian World War I flying ace and senator of the Kingdom from 1934 until his death. He was the father of Paola, Queen of the Belgi ...

, on 25 October 1917. The next day, Costantini shot down another

Aviatik Automobil und Aviatik AG was a German aircraft manufacturer during World War I. The company was established at Mülhausen (today in France) in 1909 and soon became one of the country's leading producers of aircraft. It relocated to Freiburg in 1 ...

reconnaissance plane over Castelmonte. A month later, on 23 November, he shared his third victory over a two-seater with Cesare Magistrini. A week later, he had another shared win. He did not score again for nine months. In August 1918, he acquired a newer

Spad XIII The SPAD S.XIII is a French biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War, developed by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) from the earlier and highly successful SPAD S.VII. During early 1917, the French designer Louis Béc ...

that he used to round off his career. On the 12th, he singlehandedly defeated an

Albatros D.III The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service ('' Luftstreitkräfte'') during World War I. A modified licence model was built by Oeffag for the Austro-Hungarian Air Service ( ''Luftfahrtruppen''). ...

near Lucia di Piave. Ten days later, he flamed a two-seater over Marano di Piave and watched its observer parachute away.

Motor racing career

Costantini was a racing driver in the

Aquila Italiana The Aquila Italiana founded as the "Società Anonima Aquila" and quickly renamed as "Società Anonima Italiana Aquila" was an Italian automobile manufacturer from 1906 to 1917. The company was named again in 1909 after it was bought by bank as "A ...

team (1914–17). He joined

(1923) and won two

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 ...

in a

Bugatti Type 35 The Bugatti Type 35 was the most successful of the Bugatti racing models. Its version of the Bugatti arch-shaped radiator that had evolved from the more architectural one of the Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, was to become the one that the marque is ...

(1925–26),Bartolomeo "Meo" Costantini
/ref> won the

Circuito Lasarte The Circuito Lasarte was an Grand Prix motor racing road course at Lasarte-Oria, Guipúzcoa, Spain in the Basque Country near the city of San Sebastián on the Bay of Biscay. The counterclockwise layout was used between 1923 and 1935 but ...

(1926), and in chassis #4802 of Type 39, got second in French GP (1926). He remained racing team manager until 1935, replaced by

Jean Bugatti Jean Bugatti (15 January 1909 – 11 August 1939) was an automotive designer and test engineer for Bugatti. He was the son of Bugatti's founder Ettore Bugatti. Biography Born Gianoberto Maria Carlo Bugatti in Cologne, he was the eldest son ...

References

* Franks, Norman; Guest, Russell; Alegi, Gregory. ''Above the War Fronts: The British Two-seater Bomber Pilot and Observer Aces, the British Two-seater Fighter Observer Aces, and the Belgian, Italian, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Fighter Aces, 1914–1918: Volume 4 of Fighting Airmen of WWI Series: Volume 4 of Air Aces of WWI''. Grub Street, 1997. , . * Guttman, Jon. ''SPAD XII/XIII Aces of World War I.'' Osprey Publishing, 2002. , 9781841763163.

Sources of information

1889 births 1941 deaths People from Vittorio Veneto Italian World War I flying aces Italian aviators Italian racing drivers Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor Italian military personnel of the Italo-Turkish War Grand Prix drivers Sportspeople from the Province of Treviso {{Italy-autoracing-bio-stub