   count francesco baracca (9 may 1888&nbsp;â 19 june 1918) was italy's top fighter ace of world war i. he was credited with 34 aerial victories. ==biography== baracca was born in lugo di romagna. he was the son of a wealthy landowner. the younger baracca initially studied at a private school in florence before entering the military academy of modena in october 1907. as he had become a passionate equestrian as an antidote to classroom boredom, he became a cavalryman with the prestigious piemonte reale cavalleria regiment upon his commissioning in 1910. his first duty station allowed him to attend concerts and opera in rome, as well as pursuing hunting and equestrian competitions; he gained some fame in the latter. this little idyll was spoiled by orders to a small town in central italy. baracca then became interested in aviation and learned to fly at reims, france, receiving his pilot's license on 9 july 1912. he then served with the battaglione aviatori and in 1914 with the 5th and 6th squadriglie. ===world war i=== during the months between the outbreak of world war i and italy's entry into the war, there was intense political controversy in italy between pro-war and pro-peace factions. baracca remained aloofly neutral, but ready to serve his nation. after italy's entry into the war on the entente side in may 1915, he was sent to paris to convert to nieuport two-seaters. upon his return in july, he was assigned to the 8a squadriglia nieuport. the nieuport 10s that equipped this squadron were almost useless against austro-hungarian raids; they were too slow, with too slow a rate of climb, to bring the intruders to battle with any regularity. the frustrated italian pilots even resorted to leaving their observers ground-bound in attempts to improve performance, to little ava
1888_births 1918_deaths Aviators_killed_by_being_shot_down Aviators_killed_in_aviation_accidents_or_incidents Italian_Air_Force_personnel Italian_World_War_I_flying_aces Italian_aviators Italian_military_personnel_of_World_War_I People_from_Lugo,_Emilia-Romagna Recipients_of_the_Gold_Medal_of_Military_Valor Recipients_of_the_Military_Cross Recipients_of_the_Silver_Medal_of_Military_Valor