Giuseppe (Bepi) Todesca

Verona, 1911-Trento, 1944

Caproni Test Pilots

After getting a degree in engineering at the Politecnico of Torino (1937), he obtains his civil and military pilot licences. In August 1938 he joins Giorgio Graffer’s 365th Fighter Squadrilla, taking part in the occupation of Albania (1939). Promoted to lieutenant, in January 1940 he is hired by the Caproni company in Trento as head of the materials and aircraft testing service, and later is nominated general manager of the workshop. He clocks 819 flying hours and personally tests 500 aircraft of various kinds, training many young pilots. He dies on 4 October 1944 in an airplane accident while flying over Trento on board a Fiat CR.42. The Trento Aeroclub bears his name.