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Tullio Covre (Villafranca Padovana, 7 November 1917 - Messina, 2 July 1961) was a World War II ace of Italian aviation and aerobatic instructor. == Biography == An ace of Italian aviation, he was active from 1935 to 1945 as a military pilot and afterwards as a flying instructor and aerobatics instructor at the Aero Club of Boscomantico at Verona. He volunteered for the Royal Italian Air Force at the age of 17. On 24 August 1935 he qualified as "pilota d’aeroplano" (pilot) and was enrolled in the Regia Aeronautica (the Royal Italian Air Force). On 16 January 1936 he specialised at the Scuola Caccia di Aviano (a school for fighter pilots), in the Pordenone province. In 1937 he was posted to Addis Ababa, Jimma and Gondar in East Africa, in the 116th squadron with the assault formation. He contracted malaria and had to return home, but in 1938 he returned to active service. In 1939 he was in Apulia and then Hungary, where he trained 60 fighter pilots. He was awarded the prestigious Eagle of Saint Stephen (Hungarian pilot’s licence) and the Cross of Saint Stephen. In February 1940 he was promoted to Sergeant Major and joined the 54th fighter squadron. In the first phase of the Second World War he participated in the brief life of the Corpo Aereo Italiano in Belgium, in the 20th Group of the "Gatto Nero" (Black Cat). He then went to Libya for six months with the same group. In August 1943 he went to Campoformido, with the 1st Fighter Group. After the armistice on 8 September he joined the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (National Republican Air Force), in the "Diavoli Rossi" (Red Devils) Squadron, and fought in west Veneto. On 31 October 1944 he shot down a P47 Thunderbolt, and in December he had a dogfight with a Spitfire and made an emergency landing at Thiene. In the following March he shot down a B.25 Mitchell from the 310th Bomber Group based in Corsica. In April 1945 he flew to Aviano to instruct the pilots who had been newly assigned to the "Red Devils", with a two seat Me 109 trainer. He took part in the last combat in southern Garda in which the sergeant Renato Patton lost his life, the last of the Republican Air Force to die. He re-entered combat with the Mustang of the 317th squadron (325º Fighter Group, nicknamed the "Checkertail Clan") flying in a pair with the aircraft of sergeant Antonio Tampieri. They were attacked and strafed and Covre received damage to his aircraft's glycol tank, and there was an explosion in the cockpit. He was about to bail out, but just before jumping he became aware of an attack from behind on Tampieri. He re-entered the aircraft to warn him by radio, and then he jumps out but becomes entangled in the antenna of the aircraft. He managed to free himself at the last moment. Tampieri, warned of the danger, avoids the attack and returns to base. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tullio Covre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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