Giuseppe Cenni

Casola Valsenio, 1915-Sila, 1943

World War II: Fighters

As a young aviation pundit, he enlists in the Italian Royal Air Force in 1935 and participates in the Spanish civil war, downing seven enemy planes in the process. Captured, he returns to Italy after six months in prison. As a flight instructor, after June 1940 he is sent to the German flight school in Graz to train on the Junker Ju.87 (Stukas). With the 239th Squadrilla he fights in Greece, Albania, Yugoslavia, northern Africa and Malta. In 1942 he continues fighting at the controls of a Reggiane Re.2002 by taking the lead of the 102nd Group (5th Wing) with the rank of major. He dies in combat on the eve of the armistice. One Gold Medal and six Silver Medals of Military Valor.