Michele Allasia Sottotenente Michele Allasia was a World War I fighter ace credited with five aerial victories . Biography . Michele Allasia was born on 24 June 1893 , in Ferrara , Kingdom of Italy . Allasia was a lathe operator in civilian life . In 1913 , he was accepted into the " Battaglione Squadriglie Aviatori " because of his skills with a lathe . When the war began , he enrolled in the Busto Arsizio flying school . In late May 1916 , he received his pilot ' s license . He was assigned to fly a Farman for " 37a Squadriglia " , which was tasked with the defense of Bergamo . He flew 40 fruitless sorties there , before being selected for training on Nieuport s . Allasia was transferred to " 80a Squadriglia " on 9 March 1917 . He returned to the Isonzo front with the rank of " Sergente Maggiore " . It was about this time that some of the squadron ' s pilots used Happy Hooligan as an insignia on their planes . Allasia ' s version showed " Fortunello " yelling wordlessly . On 25 April 1917 , he was granted the Bronze award of the Medal of Military Valor . On 27 April , in a letter home , Allasia depicted his previous day ' s ( 26 April ) dogfight with three Austro - Hungarian machines : " If only you could see how badly holed my aircraft is ! Four bullets grazed my back . Even the fuel tank was pierced . " The following day , 28 April 1917 , six weeks after his first dog fight , Allasia was rated as a qualified Nieuport 11 pilot . He was wounded by antiaircraft shrapnel on 10 May 1917 . He landed for medical aid at Doberdò del Lago , and was unable to return to duty until early July . Upon his return , he submitted a claim for shooting down a seaplane on 13 July , but it went unverified . The next month , he and Giovanni Sabelli teamed to shoot down a Hansa - Brandenburg C . I for Allasia ' s first win . On 1 September 1917 , Prince Emanuele Filiberto , Duke of Aosta made a field award of the Silver Medal of Military Valor to Michele Allasia . Allasia scored twice more while with " 80a Squadriglia " , on 2 and 7 November 1917 . He had flown 368 combat hours with the squadron by the time he left . Allasia transferred to " 77a Squadriglia " later in November , to fly a Spad VII . However , he flew only 37 hours with the 77th , including some night flying experiments , but only one combat . On 12 December , Allasia received his second field award of the Silver Medal for Military Valor . On 11 March 1918 , Allasia engaged a formation of Austro - Hungarian fighters over Pordenone . His Spad took 18 hits from the guns of Benno Fiala Ritter von Fernbrugg , who claimed him as a victory . Nevertheless , the Italian escaped unscathed . On 8 June 1918 , he transferred to the newly formed strategic reconnaissance unit , " 5a Sezione SVA " . A week later , he shot down a two - seater for his fourth triumph . On the 23rd , he shot down another enemy airplane . Allasia also received a third Silver Medal for Military Valor for his courageous actions from 15 through 23 June 1918 . On 20 July 1918 , Allasia and his passenger , Capitano Giuseppe Graglia , crashed an Ansaldo SVA . 9 near Marcon airfield . Both of them were trapped in the wreckage and burned to death .