Flaminio Avet was a World War I

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 ...

credited with eight aerial victories. Although born in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, France, he served in the Italian military as Italy entered World War I. After a transfer from

Lancers A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used for mounted warfare in Assyria as early as and subsequently by Persia, India, Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome. The weapon was widely used throughout Eurasia during the M ...

to aviation, he trained as a pilot. He began his aerial combat career on 27 November 1918, and would stake a dozen victory claims, eight of which would be verified. He ended the war having won the Silver

Medal for Military Valor The Medal of Military Valor (Italian language: ''Medaglia al valor militare'') is an Italian medal, originally established as a Sardinian award. It is awarded to military personnel, units above the level of company, and civilians for exceptio ...

three times. He returned to Nice postwar, and died there on 21 August 1928.

Early life and ground service

Flaminio Avet was born in

, France on 3 August 1890. Despite being born in France, he joined Italy's 9th "Firenze"

Lancer A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used for mounted warfare in Assyria as early as and subsequently by Persia, India, Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome. The weapon was widely used throughout Eurasia during the M ...

s Regiment as an officer as World I heated up.Franks et al, p. 131.

Aerial service in World War I

Avet transferred to aviation in early 1916; he made his first flight in a Blériot on 25 May 1916. On 9 September 1916, he was granted his pilot's wings; on 15 November, he gained his military pilot's brevet. On 1 January 1917, he qualified on Aviatiks. On 3 February 1917, he was posted to ''73a Squadriglia'' as a two-seater pilot. He flew his first combat

sortie A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint. The term originated in siege warfare. ...

on 14 March 1917. After he gained experience, he was sent to

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 ...

for conversion training on

Nieuport 17 The Nieuport 17 C.1 (or Nieuport XVII C.1 in contemporary sources) was a French sesquiplane fighter designed and manufactured by the Nieuport company during World War I. An improvement over the Nieuport 11, it was a little larger than earlier N ...

fighters on 31 August 1917. After that, he went to gunnery training at San Giusto before doubling back to Malpensa for training on the SIA 7. On 1 November 1917, he was posted to a temporary assignment commanding ''82a Squadriglia'' for a fortnight. He staked his first victory claim while serving in this squadron. He was transferred to ''

70a Squadriglia 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

'' and would serve with them through war's end, except for another short spell as ''82a Squadriglia's'' commander in June and July 1918. During the latter part of the war, from May to October 1918, he posted another eleven claims for combat victories, all scored while in ''70a Squadriglia''. His last victory was shared with 2 other pilots (Eleuteri and Bocchese). Though the guns of all three pilots were jammed, "they forced with their presence alone an Austrian airman to give himself up and land at Arcade".^{/sup> A black cross from this aircraft was later souvenired and framed by Avet, which presently survives today. ''Tenente'' Flaminio Avet ended the war having thrice been awarded the Silver Medal for Military Valor

The Medal of Military Valor (Italian language: ''Medaglia al valor militare'') is an Italian medal, originally established as a Sardinian award. It is awarded to military personnel, units above the level of company, and civilians for exceptio ...
.

List of aerial victories

See also Aerial victory standards of World War I

Confirmed victories are numbered and listed chronologically. Unconfirmed victories are denoted by "u/c" and may or may not be listed by date.

Post World War I

On 1 February 1919, the Bongiovanni report from Italy's military intelligence

Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
confirmed eight of Avet's victories.Franks et al 1997, pp. 116, 167-168. Avet returned to Nice, France, where he died on 21 August 1928.

Endnotes

4. Gentilli et al., 2003, p89.

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. , .
* Gentilli R., Iozzi A., Varriale P., (2003). ''Italian aces of World War I and their aircraft.'' Schiffer Publishing Ltd, Atglen PA.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avet, Flaminio
Italian aviators
Italian World War I flying aces
Italian military personnel of World War I
Italian Air Force personnel
Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor
1890 births
1928 deaths
French emigrants to Italy}