Livio Bassi, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetLivio Bassi
Italian aviator
Date of Birth: 08-Oct-1918
Place of Birth: Trapani, Sicily, Italy
Date of Death: 02-Apr-1941
Profession: aircraft pilot
Zodiac Sign: Libra 
About Livio Bassi
- Livio Bassi (8 October 1918 – 2 April 1941) was an Italian aviator, and a fighter ace of World War II. Bassi was born in Trapani, Sicily, in 1918, was a cadet of the prestigious Nunziatella military academy between 1932-35, and entered the Italian Accademia Aeronautica (Air Force Academy) in 1936.
- In 1939 he was made Sottotenente (2nd Lieutenant) of Regia Aeronautica and was assigned to the 395th Squadron (160nd Fighter Wing).
- In 1940 he was promoted to full Lieutenant. In this unit, with Fiat G.50, he took part in his first military mission, on November 4, 1940, in Jannina (Greece).
- In December 1940 and January 1941 destroyed four enemy planes in combat. On 20 February 1941 Pat Pattle, a flying ace of the Royal Air Force, flying Hurricane Mk I V7724, was leading a group of six Hurricanes escorting 16 Blenheim light bombers — eight of No.
- 84 Squadron RAF, six of No.
- 211 Squadron and three of No.
- 30 Squadron RAF — to Berat.
- Fiat G.50bis from the 361a and 395a Squadriglia, 154° Autonomo Gruppo were scrambled from Berat airfield, but they were attacked by the higher altitude Hurricanes.
- Pattle led his section straight towards four Fiat G.50s and selected the leading aircraft as his own target.
- It was the first time he had fired the eight guns of the Hurricane, and the G.50 exploded.
- The Fiat G.50 was from 154° Gruppo and it was the first Hurricane victory that Pattle would claim.
- The plane of Bassi was hit in this battle, after knocking down two British planes.He could land even with the damaged plane, but the aircraft caught fire burning.
- Bassi died a few weeks after at the military hospital in Rome. A Gold Medal of Military Valor awarded posthumously. The Airport Trapani-Chinisia was named in 1949 to Livio Bassi, and after named the military Trapani–Birgi Airport.
Read more at Wikipedia