Francesco Baracca -- June 19, 2018

Richmond Palladium and Sun-Telegram, 28-June-1918

Francesco Baracca was a Lughesi who was one of Italy's leading fighter pilots. The coat of arms of the Baracca family had a prancing stallion. He had the emblem painted on the side of his airplanes.  Enzo Ferrari later adopted the horse as an emblem for his autos.  

Baracca died 100 years ago today on 19-June-1918.  I had trouble finding mentions of the death of Baracca.  He was making a low-level ground attack near Montello, Veneto.  He failed to return.  His body was found on 24-June-1918.  He may have shot himself to prevent capture.  

The image above was published almost ten days after his death and four days after his body was discovered.  The item below is from an Italian government dispatch reprinted in the Denison, Iowa Review on 26-June-1918.  

from "Italian Victory Over Austrians"

In the region of Montello, the Italians have found the body of the aviator, Major Baracca, who had failed to return during the first days of the operations in that region. A bullet was found in the right temple. This leads to the belief that when Major Baracca saw that his disabled machine forced him to descend into the enemy's lines he killed himself rather than be captured. The loss of Major Baracca is deeply felt in Italy as he was the leading aviator of the Italian army, having to his credit the destruction of about fifty enemy machines.