Francesco Baracca Count Francesco Baracca ( 9 May 1888 – 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 Rheims , 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 Allied 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 10 s 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 avail . On those rare occasions when battle was joined , the Nieuports ' guns usually jammed . Renaming the unit to " 1a Squadriglia Caccia " on 1 December 1915 did nothing to solve the problems . The Nieuport 11 single seat fighter with Lewis gun s entered service in April 1916 , and on 7 April , flying this new fighter , Baracca scored his first victory , holing the fuel tank of an Austrian Hansa - Brandenburg C . I and wounding its two - man crew . This was also Italy ' s first aerial victory in the war . This first victory featured his favorite manoeuvre , which was to zoom in unseen behind and below an enemy and fire his machine gun from pistol range . It was around this time that Baracca adopted as a personal emblem a black prancing horse on his Nieuport 17 , in tribute to his former cavalry regiment . This prompted some to call him , " The Cavalier of the Skies " . Flying the Nieuport 17 and then , from March 1917 , the SPAD VII , he scored both individually , and in combination with other Italian aces . Baracca ' s second victory was an Austrian Lohner over Gorizia on 23 April 1916 . After his third victory , he transferred to 70a Squadriglia . Promoted to " Capitano " , Baracca remained with the unit until , with 9 victories , he transferred to the newly formed 91st " Squadriglia " , known as the " Squadron of the Aces " , in 1 May 1917 . By that time , his ever increasing list of victories had made him nationally famous . While he initially dodged the responsibilities and paperwork that went with command , he finally settled into heading the squadron . Baracca ' s friend Fulco Ruffo di Calabria nearly ended Baracca ' s career — and life — in June 1917 . Ruffo di Calabria burst out of a cloud firing in a head - on pass at an enemy airplane , and barely missed Baracca . Later , on the ground , Baracca assured his companion , " Dear Fulco , next time , if you want to shoot me down , aim a couple of meters to the right . Now let ' s go for a drink and not talk of it any more ! " Baracca temporarily upgraded to a Spad XIII in October 1917 , using it to achieve a couple of victories on the 22nd , and on a win scored on a joint sortie with Pier Piccio on the 25th . That night he wrote : " I had my SPAD shot up and its longeron broken into pieces by enemy machine gun fire in an aerial dogfight . " As a result , Baracca returned to the more manoeuvrable Spad VII , remarking , " It doesn ' t matter if the VII is equipped with a single gun . Provided you are a good fighter , a single gun is just enough . " Nevertheless , after repair , he sometimes returned to the Spad XIII . A dedicated fighter pilot , Baracca found life away from the front unbearable and remained as much as possible with the 91st " Squadriglia " , even after being promoted to " Maggiore " in November 1917 . Baracca remained a modest , sensitive man conscious of his duty and compassionate to both his squadron comrades and to his defeated enemies . He would try to visit his victims in hospital afterwards , to pay his respects , or he would place a wreath on the grave of those he killed . He had raised his score to 30 by the end of 1917 . Soon afterwards , Baracca , Piccio , and Ruffo di Calabria were tasked with evaluating the new Ansaldo A . 1 Balilla fighter . Baracca was personally decorated by King Victor Emmanuel III at La Scala at this time . It was March 1918 before Baracca convinced his superiors that he belonged back at the front . He was not long back before he found himself in a situation similar to the previous late October : his squadron was forced to withdraw by enemy advances on 27 April . It was about this time that he adopted the griffin as an insignia for the planes in his unit . Most of his pilots adopted it , though some still flaunted the prancing stallion as a gesture of respect for their commander . Death . Baracca saw little action in 1918 , but he added more victories , for a total of 34 , before failing to return from a strafing mission on the Montello hill area on 19 June . The Italians were taking advantage of their air supremacy to fly treetop ground attack missions into a storm of small arms fire . In the 0630 troop support mission , Baracca and rookie pilot " Tenente " Franco Osnago were hit by ground fire and split from one another . A few minutes later , both Baracca ' s home airfield and Osnago saw a burning airplane fall . According to other sources , Baracca had left Osnago to provide him with top cover as he dived on the enemy trenches . Osnago lost sight of his commander , then he saw something burning in a nearby valley . Some days later , on 24 June , after an Austro - Hungarian retreat , Baracca ' s remains were recovered from where they lay , four meters from the burnt remnants of his Spad VII . A monument in his memory was later built on the site . Osnago , Ferruccio Ranza , and a journalist named Garinei retrieved his body for the large funeral that was held in his home town of Lugo . His body , when found , reportedly bore the marks of a bullet to the head . In his hand , he held a pistol , leading to suspicions that he elected to take his own life rather than die in a crash or be taken prisoner . An Austrian pilot reportedly claimed to have shot him down in combat . Both these theories are unsupported by firm evidence and the most accepted version is that Baracca was hit by ground - fire . It should , however , be noted that research in Austro - Hungarian records indicates that he was killed by the gunner of an Austrian two - seater while attacking from above and behind . Ltn Arnold Barwig in Phönix C . I 121 . 17 , piloted by Zgsf Max Kauer , claimed to have shot down the Italian ace . Legacy . Baracca ' s total of 34 victory claims can largely be verified from known Austro - Hungarian losses and surviving military records , establishing the Italian as one of the highest scoring Allied pilots during the conflict . Many roads in Italy are named after Baracca . The airport of Bolzano , a city in the province of South Tyrol , the Roma - Centocelle Italian Air Force base , and the Lugo di Romagna air field are all named after Baracca . In later years , Baracca ' s mother presented his prancing stallion emblem , the " Cavallino Rampante " , to Enzo Ferrari . The prancing horse has been the official symbol of the Scuderia Ferrari racing team since 1929 , and of Ferrari automobiles since they began manufacture . < BR >