Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia

Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia
Portrait of Buscaglia mid-1943
Born	(1915-09-22)22 September 1915 Novara, Kingdom of Italy
Died	24 August 1944(1944-08-24) (aged 28) Naples, Kingdom of Italy
Allegiance	Kingdom of Italy
Service/branch	Regia Aeronautica
Years of service	1934-1944
Rank	Major
Unit	281ª Squadriglia, 132º Gruppo and XXVIII Gruppo
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of the Mediterranean
Awards	Gold Medal of Military Valor Silver Medal of Military Valor Iron Cross 2nd class

Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia (22 September 1915 – 24 August 1944) was an Italian aviator, and one of the most famous Italian pilots of World War II.

Biography

Buscaglia was born in Novara, Piedmont, in 1915 and entered the Italian Accademia Aeronautica (Air Force Academy) in October 1934. In 1937 he was made Sottotenente (2nd Lieutenant).

On 1 July 1937 Buscaglia was assigned to the 50th Squadron (32nd Bomber Wing), then equipped with the obsolete

. In 1939 he was promoted to full Lieutenant. The following February he was transferred to the 252nd Squadron (46th Bomber Wing), and with this unit, he took part in his first military mission, on 21 June 1940.

On 25 July he volunteered to join the Reparto Speciale Aerosiluranti ("Special Torpedo-Bomber Detachment") of the

.

In January 1941 Buscaglia's unit was transferred to

.

By 1942 Buscaglia had already obtained the Silver Medal of Military Valor five times, and the German Iron Cross second class. In April he was selected to command the new 132nd Torpedo Group, subsequently sinking several ships in the Mediterranean. On 12 August of that year, together with the German ace Hans-Joachim Marseille, he was received in Rome by Benito Mussolini, who promoted him to major.

On 12 November 1942, during an action against the Allied invasion of North Africa, Buscaglia's aircraft was shot down by a British Spitfire. He was declared "killed in action" and a Gold Medal of Military Valor awarded posthumously. However, although wounded and badly burned, Buscaglia had survived, having been captured by Allied troops and transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp in the United States at Fort Meade.

After the

), the 1° Gruppo Aerosiluranti, was named after him.

On 15 July 1944, Buscaglia assumed command of the 28th Bomber Wing, equipped with Martin Baltimores and based on Campo Vesuvio airport, near Naples. On 23 August, while attempting to fly one of the new aircraft without an instructor, Buscaglia crashed on take-off. He died the following day in a hospital in Naples.

The 3rd Wing of the current

, was named after him.

Bibliography

• Evangelisti, Giorgio; Aichner, Martino (1969). Storia degli aerosiluranti italiani e del Gruppo Buscaglia. Longanesi.
• Aichner, Martino (1973). Il Gruppo Buscaglia. Aerosiluranti italiani nella Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Mursia Editore.
• Enciclopedia dell'Aviazione. Novara: EDIPEM. 1978.
• Molteni, Mirko (2012). L'aviazione italiana 1940-1945. Azioni belliche e scelte operative. Bologna: Odoya.
  ISBN 978-88-6288-144-9
  .
• Rossi, Euro (2006). Nido d'aquile. Storia dell'Aeronautica nell'Agro Pontino (2 ed.). H.E.-Herald Editore.
  ISBN 88-89672-12-9
  .

External links

• "Official biography". aeronautica.difesa.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)