Italian Forces

Italian top ace Gorrini dies aged 97

Ono of the last Italian ww2 top ace has died last november 8, aged 97. Luigi Gorrini, (12 July 1917 – 8 November 2014) was a former Italian World War II fighter pilot in the Regia Aeronautica and in the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana. During the conflict he flew with the Corpo Aereo Italiano (CAI, Italian Air Corps) during the Battle of Britain, fought over Libya and Tunisia, and was involved in the defence of the Italian mainland. Gorrini was credited with 19 (24 according to some sources) enemy planes shot down plus 9 damaged, of several types: Curtiss P-40, Spitfire, P-38 Lightning, P-47 Thunderbolt, B-17 "Flying Fortress" and B-24 Liberator. He claimed his air victories flying the biplane Fiat C.R.42 and monoplanes Macchi C.202 and C.205 Veltro, and the Fiat G.55. Gorrini was the top scoring C.205 pilot. With the Veltro he shot down 14 enemy planes and damaged six more. He was the highest ranking Italian ace still alive until his death, and the only surviving fighter pilot awarded the Medaglia d'Oro al Valor Militare (Gold Medal of Military Valor). On 19 July 1943, during a single sortie west of Rome, during the famous Allied bombing of the Capital, Gorrini destroyed a four-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber and a Lockheed P-38 Lightning (another P-38 was damaged). Next day, he claimed another P-38 destroyed and a P-38 damaged. On august 28, 1943 Gorrini, still flying a Veltro, shot down two Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and a Lockheed P-38 Lightning, in a single engagement. One wing of his C.205 was damaged after an overheating cannon muzzle exploded. After running out of gasoline, he glided back to his base for a powerless landing. On 29 August, he claimed two P-38s destroyed and two more damaged. Gorrini has been awarded with a Medaglia d'oro al Valor Militare (in 1958), two of Bronzo, and German Iron Cross of First and Second Class. DVX