Adriano Visconti Major Adriano Visconti di Lampugnano ( 11 November 1915 - 29 April 1945 ) was one of Italy ' s top flying ace s of the Second World War , shooting down between 10 to 26 enemy aircraft . He was awarded with four " Medaglia d ' argento al Valor Militare " and two " Medaglia di Bronzo al Valor Militare " in action " " . Early years . The son of Count Galeazzo Visconti and Cecilia Dall ' Aglio , he was born in Tripoli , Libya . He joined the Italian Royal Air Force ( " Regia Aeronautica " ) in October 1936 , and completed his pilot training at the Accademia Aeronautica in Caserta . Career . Visconti graduated on the Breda BA25 , and later flew RO41s . In 1939 he was commissioned as a Sub - Lieutenant Pilot ( " Sottotenente Pilota " ) and posted to the Breda 65 equipped 159ª " Squadriglia " , 12º " Gruppo " 50º " Stormo " , a ground attack unit based at Tobruk . He was soon briefly posted to 2º " Gruppo Aviazione Presidio Coloniale ' s " 23ª " Squadriglia " for disciplinary reasons , but was allowed to return to his original unit for " heroism under fire " : Visconti ' s Breda Ba 65 had been attacked by three 33 Squadron Gladiators but , because of his skill as a pilot , Visconti and his crew escaped the encounter . For this action , in addition to being allowed to return to 50º " Stormo " , Visconti was awarded the first of his " Medaglia di Bronzo " . From June 1940 until the end of that year he flew continually without leave , and was awarded another Bronze medal and two " Medaglia d ' argento " . By January 1941 50º " Stormo " had taken such heavy losses that the unit was disbanded . Visconti was detached to the 54 Stormo , 7 Gruppo , 76a Squadron , where he learned to fly the Macchi 200 . He then flew the superior Macchi 202 from the end of 1941 until the Italian Armistice of September 8 , 1943 . On 22 December 1941 , in a dogfight over Malta , he was credited with a " probable " Hawker Hurricane . His first official air victory was on the 15 June 1942 , when he shot down a Bristol Blenheim near the island of Pantelleria . On 13 August 1942 while flying with a wingman in a formation of two C . 202 s on a reconnaissance flight over Malta looking for a shipping convoy , the Italian aircraft were bounced by four Supermarine Spitfire escorting the ships . Visconti , only flying the Macchi for the second time , was able to shoot down two Spitfires and damage the other two , allowing the other Macchi to complete the reconnaissance mission . For this double air victory , Visconti was awarded a " Medaglia d ' Argento al Valor Militare " ( Silver Medal of Militar valour ) . After the armistice , Visconti continued to fly with the newly formed National Republican Air Force ( " Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana " , or ANR ) of the Italian Social Republic ( " Repubblica Sociale Italiana " , or RSI ) . Shortly after joining the ANR , Visconti was promoted to Captain , commanding the 1st Squadron in the 1st Gruppo Caccia . In May 1944 , he was promoted to Major . Until the disbanding of the ANR in 1945 , Visconti flew the Macchi C . 205 and the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G - 10 . He was credited with his first " kill " with the ANR on 3 January 1944 , when , flying a C . 205 , he downed a P - 38 Lightning South of the Piedmontese city of Cuneo . Visconti was wounded on several occasions , but never seriously . Although he never claimed more than ten kills some later source credited him with 26 . Most of his victories were while flying the Macchi 205V ; the last , a P - 47 over Lake Garda , on 14 March 1945 , was in a Bf 109 G10 designated " 3 - 4 " but in reality was only a " claim " , since the pilot he met in a head - on dogfight , wasn ' t actually shot down . In fact , on the 14th of March 1945 Adriano Visconti was shot down , by the USAAF pilot , 2nd / Lt Charles Clark Eddy Jr . in a P - 47 he named " Chickenbones " of 346th FS , 350th FG . They were in a dogfight in the Lake Garda area when Visconti ' s plane was hit and disabled by Eddy in a frontal attack , Visconti parachuted out at a very low altitude and survived his moderate wounds , while Eddy ' s P - 47 came back safely to his Pisa airbase . This story can be verified by reading the article " L ' UOMO CHE ABBATTE ' VISCONTI " ( THE MAN WHO SHOT DOWN VISCONTI ) , in the 3rd of March 1989 issue of the Italian magazine " Aeronautica " , which was based on the notes taken at the time by Eddy in his notebook , allowing to retrace the combat and to understand that he was the " adversary " of Visconti ( a fact completely unknown to Eddy himself till then ) . Death . On April 29 , 1945 , Visconti surrendered to communist partisan s near Malpensa airfield , Milan , only after he was assured that none of the air and ground personnel of his unit would be killed in retaliatory attacks . His safety was assured by the mayor of Milan as well , when he was first taken for interrogation . Visconti and the other officers were taken on two buses to the barracks of Savoy Cavalry ( " Savoia Cavalleria " ) in via Vincenzo Monti . The barracks was then the command of National Republican Guard Intendancy ( " Intendenza of Guardia Nazionale Repubblicana " ) ) . There , at 2 p . m . , Visconti and Lieutenant ( " tenente " ) Valerio Stefanini , his close collaborator , were seemingly taken for a routine interrogation . They were both shot in the back by a Russian bodyguard of the communist partisan leader " Iso " . The Russian was charged with murder but was later discharged because the crime had occurred before 8 May 1945 , the official end of the war in Italy , and was therefore considered an act of war .