Tenente Giovanni Sabelli was an Italian 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 five aerial victories. At the start of World War I, he was already an experienced combat pilot.
Early life
On 23 September 1886 in
Napoli
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
,
[Franks 2000, p. 159.] Sabelli was born
into a wealthy family. He studied engineering in New York. Sabelli was a pilot even before World War I, having learned to fly at
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...
, England in 1912. He was awarded his pilot's certificate by the
Royal Aero Club
The Royal Aero Club (RAeC) is the national co-ordinating body for air sport in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1901 as the Aero Club of Great Britain, being granted the title of the "Royal Aero Club" in 1910.
History
The Aero Club was foun ...
on 30 January 1912. During the
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...
, he volunteered to fly combat for the Bulgarians against the Turks.
[Varriale 2009, pp. 92-93.] Indeed, he was reputed to be one of the organizers of the air effort versus the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
.
[
]
Flying career
Sabelli volunteered for military service when Italy finally entered World War I. He was a reserve sotto-tenente in the Engineering Corps. Although already a licensed pilot and a combat veteran, he had to pass new flying examinations to fly for his country; he passed both basic and advanced military licenses for 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 ...
s in August 1915. After being assigned on 30 August, he flew familiarization flights with the Adriatic Defense Flight before being sent to France to train on Nieuport 11
The Nieuport 11 (or Nieuport XI C.1 in contemporary sources), nicknamed the ''Bébé'', was a French World War I single seat sesquiplane fighter aircraft, designed by Gustave Delage. It was the primary aircraft that ended the Fokker Scourge in ...
s in mid-October 1915.[ He returned to Italy to fly combat for a while, being posted on 1 February 1916 to 2a Squadriglia Caccia, but without scoring any aerial victories, but winning a Silver Medal of Military Valor. While assigned here, he also served ]temporary duty
Temporary duty travel (TDY), also known as temporary additional duty (TAD), is a designation reflecting a United States Armed Forces service member's—or civilian United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense employee's—travel or o ...
as a Nieuport test pilot at 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 ...
between 29 May and 2 July 1915. On 9 September 1916, he was promoted to tenente. He was also transferred in September. His next assignment was command of a Nieuport Defence Section (later to become '' 85a Squadriglia'') in Albania.[Franks 2000, pp. 80-81.] Being eager to score victories, he wished to return to the fighting in Italy; he mentioned this to Francesco Baracca
Count Francesco Baracca (9 May 1888 – 19 June 1918) was Italy's top fighter ace of World War I. He was credited with 34 aerial victories. The emblem he wore side by side on his plane of a black horse prancing on its two rear hooves ins ...
. On 23 March 1917, Baracca alerted Sabelli that his return to Italy was imminent. When the orders came through in April, Sabelli managed a return surface journey from Albania to Italy in only 22 hours. He rejoined his old unit, now denoted as 71a Squadriglia. He would spend only a few days there.[
On 9 May 1917, he was assigned to 91a Squadriglia at the request of Baracca, who was amassing a squadron of the best Italian fighter pilots,][ although he did not physically join it until 23 June.][ Sabelli had an insignia of a ladder painted on his Spad. In company with ]Michele Allasia
Sottotenente Michele Allasia was a World War I fighter ace credited with five aerial victories.
Biography
Allasia was born on 24 June 1893, in Ferrara, Kingdom of Italy.Franks et al 1997, p. 129. Allasia was a lathe operator in civilian life. In 1 ...
, Sabelli scored his first victory on 10 August 1917, shooting down a Hansa-Brandenburg C.I
The Hansa-Brandenburg C.I, also known as Type LDD, was a 2-seater armed single-engine reconnaissance biplane designed by Ernst Heinkel, who worked at that time for the parent company in Germany. The C.I had similarities with the earlier B.I (Typ ...
trailing leader's streamers. On 6 September, Sabelli launched such an impetuous attack on a Hansa-Brandenburg C.I that he nearly collided with Barraca; the Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
plane crashlanded with the observer dead and the pilot wounded, for Sabelli's second triumph. On 17 September, he singlehandedly shot down another C.I. On 23 September, his best friend Ferruccio Ranza
Brigadier General Ferruccio Ranza (9 September 1892—25 April 1973) began his military career as a World War I flying ace credited with seventeen confirmed victories and eight unconfirmed ones. Postwar, he rose to command of several area comma ...
joined him in killing an Austro-Hungarian crew from Flik 35. On 29 September, he finished his string of five, joining Giorgio Pessi
Tenente Giorgio Pessi (alias Giuliano Parvis) was a World War I flying ace born in Austria-Hungary who chose to fly for Italy. He was credited with six aerial victories.
Early life and service
Giorgio Pessi was born on 17 November 1891 in Trieste, ...
and Cosimo Rizzotto
Sergente Cosimo Rizzotto (1893-1963) was a World War I flying ace credited with six aerial victories.
Early life
Cosimo Rizzotto was born on 26 June 1893, in Colognola ai Colli, Kingdom of Italy.Franks et al 1997, pp. 157-158.
World War I
Rizzott ...
in killing another Austro-Hungarian air crew.[ He was awarded another silver medal.][
]
Death in action
On 25 October 1917, he was flying as a wingman to Pier Piccio near the Battle of Caporetto
The Battle of Caporetto (also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, the Battle of Kobarid or the Battle of Karfreit) was a battle on the Italian front of World War I.
The battle was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Central ...
when Piccio attacked an enemy two-seater. Piccio's guns jammed, and Sabelli took his place as the shooter. An enemy patrol surprised Sabelli from behind and shot him down trailing smoke. Sabelli's body was never found. Ferruccio Ranza adopted Sabelli's ladder insignia, having it painted on his own 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 ...
in remembrance of his friend.[
]
Sources of information
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. , .
* Franks, Norman. ''Nieuport Aces of World War 1.''Osprey Publishing, 2000. .
* Varriale, Paolo. ''Italian Aces of World War 1''. Osprey Pub Co, 2009. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabelli, Giovanni
1886 births
1917 deaths
Italian World War I flying aces
Italian military personnel killed in World War I