Today, Tuesday 19 June, marks the centenary of the death of theAce of the Axes, the major MOVM Francesco Baracca. Just 41 days after the 130th anniversary of his birth, the Air Force also remembers the 100th anniversary of his tragic death.
That 19 of June 1918, at the height of the battle of the Solstice, during a flight of enemy lines, Francesco Baracca was likely to be hit by land near the Montello. His aircraft was seen rearing up and then falling. The 23 June were found his mortal remains next to the remains of his SPAD S.VII s.2445.
Indomitable commander of the 91st Squadron, driven by a strong sense of duty and attachment to the homeland, Francesco Baracca addressed his mother in one of the many correspondence exchanges during the First World War: "In a few days my two years of war will be completed and now I could withdraw, but as the work is heavy and I struggle a lot, now I have a beautiful squadron - the most brilliant at the front and called by all 'The Squadron of the Axes '- that I do not dare to leave ...".
The multiple acts of heroism accomplished and the exceptional qualities of highly decorated aviator Value, made it an emblematic figure of bright reference to the most precious legacy of value and heroism for all Italian aviators.
Baracca's funeral took place on June 26 in Quinto di Treviso and the eulogy was delivered by Gabriele D'Annunzio who, in one passage, painted it like this: "It was nothing but a point in the immense sky, it was nothing but an invisible vibration in the infinite blue. And now it's all for us, for us it's all blue".
The 28 June the coffin arrived in Lugo di Romagna, the birthplace of the Hero, where two funeral days took place in the presence of an imposing and moved crowd.
The volume "Francesco Baracca - una biografia" by Paolo Varriale, editions Rivista Aeronautica, was published in the centennial year.
