ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 193696
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| Date: | Tuesday 11 February 1941 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Fiat CR.42 |
| Owner/operator: | 412a Squadriglia, Regia Aeronautica |
| Registration: | MM6271 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Mount Bizen, near Nefasit -
 Eritrea
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
On 11 February, 1 SAAF Squadron had 11 aircraft on patrols over Keren during the day. During the morning, two of them flown by Lieutenant Servaas de Kock Viljoen and Lieutenant Robin Pare encountered three CR.42s of 412a Squadriglia flown by Tenente Mario Visintini (commanding officer), Tenente Ubaldo Buzzi (a new member of the unit, coming from 411a Squadriglia) and Sergente Maggiore Baron engaged in strafing British troops in front of Keren. After the first brief clash the Fiats escaped in a thick cloud.
Lieutenant Servaas de Kock Viljoen followed and failed to return. Running low on fuel, he had to land near a village, fortunately within territory in British hands. He obtained petrol, and attempted to take off next morning, but crashed. He returned to Akordat on foot. His aircraft was later recovered and repaired.
Tenente Visintini returned to his home base of Asmara, but the two other Italian pilots landed at ‘Sabarguma’ airstrip (Gahtelay, in the Wekiro river valley between Asmara and Massawa) due to bad weather, and the fact that Tenente Buzzi did not know well the area.
In the afternoon, Visintini took off to fly back to guide these pilots home, despite being advice by all not to do this. His mechanic, sergente maggiore Edoardo Eusebi, refused to start his engine but Visintini still took offw with his CR.42 MM6271. He met low clouds that appeared suddenly. It seems that during the flight he was perhaps blown off course by high winds and while descending through clouds he crashed into the sides of Mount Bizen, near the hamlet of Nefasit, and was instantly killed.
Mario Visintini was born in Parenzo d’Istria (now Porec, Croatia) on 26 April 1913. His birth-name was Visentin but this was later “Italianized” to Visintini.
On completing his higher education, he applied to enter the Accademia Aeronautica (Air Force Academy) but failed the medical test. Instead he undertook a civilian course and received his civil pilot-license at Taliedo, Milan, in June 1936. This civil license enabled him to join the Regia Aeronautica as an Allievo Ufficiale Pilota di Complemento (Pilot Officer Cadet).
He received his military wings in September 1936 and after qualifying as a military pilot at Grottaglie on 14 November 1936, on Breda 25s and Fiat CR.20s, he was posted as Sottotenente to the 91a Squadriglia, X Gruppo, 4o Stormo, at Gorizia. Here he trained on CR.30 and CR.32 fighters. He volunteered for service in the Spanish Civil War and by 8 November 1937, he was posted to 25a Squadriglia of XVI Gruppo "La Cucaracha". This unit was at this time equipped with Fiat CR.32s. On 20 September, Sottotenente Visintini returned to Italy and 4o Stormo, having claimed at least two individual and one shared victories, one shared probable and eight enemy aircraft damaged during his duty tour in Spain. For his service in Spain he was decorated with the Medaglia d’argento al valor militare.
Back in Italy, he was given a permanent commission (Servizio Permanente Effettivo) in the Regia Aeronautica due to his record from Spain. After his return, he trained on the then new standard fighter of Regia Aeronautica, the CR.42s, but also on Ca.133s and S. 79 trimotors. On 15 January 1940, he was promoted to Tenente for war merits and with a seniority from 14 October 1938. In early 1940, the new 412a Squadriglia Autonoma Caccia was formed at Gorizia under the command of Capitano Antonio Raffi, with the purpose to be sent to Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana - AOI). Visintini was posted as vice-commander of the unit. The personnel sailed by Naples on 5 April, and arrived to Massawa on 13 April.
When Italy entered the war in June 1940, Visintini fought many battles and scored many victories. On 16 January 1941 he was promoted to Capitano and Commander of 412a Squadriglia. At the time of his death, he was the most successful Italian fighter pilot in East Africa, having claimed 17 aircraft destroyed in air battles, 3 and 4 shared probably destroyed, 1 and 1 shared damaged, 28 shared destroyed on the ground, and 5 shared damaged on the ground.
Sources:
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/italy_visintini.htm
http://www.avia-it.com/act/cera_una_volta/echi/CUV_Echi_2014/Segnalazione_articoli_ott/Le_vittorie_aeree_di_Mario_Visintini_in_Africa_Orientale.pdf
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/commonwealth_viljoen.htm
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/commonwealth_pare.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefasit
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=15.330729&lon=39.083848&z=13&m=b&search=nefasit
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 18-Feb-2017 10:55 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 12-Jun-2017 16:15 | TB | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 12-Jul-2017 14:16 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Operator, Source, Narrative] |
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