Giovanni Ancillotto

Giovanni Ancillotto
Ancillotto in front of his Ansaldo A.1 Balilla on 2 May 1921
Nickname(s)Giannini
Born(1896-11-15)15 November 1896
San Donà di Piave, Kingdom of Italy
Died18 October 1924(1924-10-18) (aged 27)
Caravaggio, Lombardy, Kingdom of Italy
Service/branchCorpo Aeronautico Militare
Years of service1915–1918
RankTenente
Unit114a Squadriglia
27a Squadriglia
30a Squadriglia
80a Squadriglia
77a Squadriglia
Battles/warsBattle of Caporetto
AwardsOne Gold and three Silver awards of the Medal for Military Valor
Other workFlew across Peru's Andes Mountains in May 1921

Lieutenant Giovanni 'Giannino' Ancillotto (15 November 1896 – 18 October 1924) was an Italian World War I flying ace credited with 11 confirmed aerial victories. Rather unusually, he served solely with aviation while he was in the military, beginning in the lowest rank. Among his aerial victories as a fighter pilot were three over enemy observation balloons right after the Battle of Caporetto. As an example of the hazards of balloon busting, on 5 December 1917 Ancillotto returned to base with singed swatches of the third balloon's fabric adhering to his damaged fighter plane.

Having survived the war as a Tenente with one Gold and three Silver awards of the Medal for Military Valor, Ancillotto flew a civil aircraft nonstop from Rome to Warsaw on 11 September 1919. In May 1921, he transited the Andes Mountains in Peru.

Giovanni Ancillotto died in an auto accident at Caravaggio, Lombardy on 18 October 1924.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · View on Wikipedia

Developed by Tubidy