'' Tenente'' Luigi Olivari 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 ...

who claimed 19 aerial victories. His

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 ...

stalled into a fatal crash on 13 October 1917. Posthumously, he was awarded credit for eight aerial victories.

Biography

Luigi Olivari was born in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

, the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

, on 29 December 1891. He earned an

Aero Club A flying club or aero club is a non-profit organization, not-for-profit, member-run organization that provides its members with affordable access to aircraft. Many clubs also provide flight training, flight planning facilities, pilot supplies and ...

pilot's license on 27 November 1914, prior to Italy's entry into World War I. On 19 May 1915, the week before Italy entered the war, Olivari applied for military pilot's training. On 15 June, he qualified on 50 horsepower Blériots; on 26 August 1915, it was on the 80 horsepower version.Franks et al 1997, p. 149. On 28 January 1916, he was assigned to fly in the ''1a Squadriglia'' (later redesignated as ''70a Squadriglia''), ranked as an aspirant. On 7 April, he scored his first aerial victory; it was only the second one for Italy. It was the second of Olivari's 18 victory claims, the first having gone unconfirmed. On 1 September 1916, Olivari was commissioned as a '' Sottotenente''. By April 1917, he was specifically assigned two aircraft—a

, as well as

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 ...

ser. no. 3127. The following month, he was transferred to the newly formed fighter squadron ''

91a Squadriglia ''Squadriglia 91a'' was one of the later fighter squadrons that the Italian Army created, on 1 May 1917. Because it drew an experienced cadre of pilots from pre-existing ''70a Squadriglia'', the squadron scored 14 victories within its first month ...

''; however, he was also loaned to ''77a Squadriglia'' for about a month, beginning 7 May. He was subsequently promoted to '' Tenente'' and assigned as an

Ansaldo SVA.5 The Ansaldo SVA (named for Savoia-Verduzio- Ansaldo) was a family of Italian reconnaissance biplane aircraft of World War I and the decade after. Originally conceived as a fighter, the SVA was found inadequate for that role. Nevertheless, its ...

test pilot for the Technical Directorate. As part of these duties, on 21 August 1917, he ferried an SVA to ''91a Squadriglia'' for their testing. At 0957 hours on 13 October 1917, Luigi Olivari's Spad VII stalled during takeoff. He died in the crash. At the time of his death, he had won two Bronze and three Silver awards of the

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 ...

; a fourth Silver would be awarded posthumously. He had also won a French ''

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

'' and a

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Order of the Star of Karađorđe Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

. Twelve of his 19 victory claims had been confirmed.

Legacy

On 1 February 1919, the Bongiovanni

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 ...

commission issued its final determination of Italian aerial victories during World War I. Olivari's score was cut back to eight confirmed victories; some victories that were noted in Olivari's award citations were not among them. The

Ghedi Ghedi (Brescian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, Italy. It received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree on November 24, 2001. Ghedi is known for a base of the Italian Air Force, Ghedi Air Base. ...

Air Force base, home of the ''Regia Aeronautica'' ''6th Stormo'' (6th Wing) was named in his memory after the war.

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. , . {{DEFAULTSORT:Olivari, Luigi 1891 births 1917 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Italian Air Force personnel Italian World War I flying aces Recipients of the Bronze Medal of Military Valor Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1917 Italian military personnel killed in World War I