Livio Bassi
Livio Bassi (8 October 1918 – 2 April 1941) was an Italian aviator, and a fighter ace of World War II. Early life Bassi was born in Trapani, Sicily, in 1918, was a cadet of the prestigious Nunziatella military academy between 1932 and 1935, 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). Second World War 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