Gian Mario Beltrami

Gian Mario Beltrami (born January 20, 1893 in Rome , † April 10, 1936 with Lonate Pozzolo ) was a general in the Italian Air Force .

Life

Beltrami came from a Piedmontese officer family. His father Carlo Luigi Beltrami was a general of the artillery and fought in the Crimean War from 1855 to 1856 and then in the Italian War of Independence . Gian Mario Beltrami was born in Rome, but after a year moved with his family to Turin . After finishing school, he began officer training at the military academy in Turin, which he completed in 1913 as an artillery officer . He then served in artillery units until the beginning of the First World War . In 1915 he completed a course to become a flying observation and fire control officer in Nettuno . As such, he completed numerous observation missions during the First World War, for which he received several high awards. On November 12, 1917, he was seriously wounded on the Piave . An 18-month hospital stay followed.

After the war he returned to the 27th Field Artillery Regiment in Milan . From 1921 to 1923 he completed the general staff course at the war school in Turin. This was followed by a brief staff assignment at the War Ministry in Rome, where he was able to help build the Italian Air Force, which had just been founded. He joined the new armed forces as a major . From 1927 to 1930, Beltrami was adjutant to King Victor Emmanuel III. He also took part in some exercises as a pilot. After staff assignments in Gorizia , Turin and Rome, he became one of the youngest Brigadier Generals in the Air Force in 1933 . As such, he commanded the 4th Air Brigade in Lonate Pozzolo. On April 10, 1936, he was killed in a plane accident in a Caproni Ca 100 .

On March 27, 1938, the Turin-Caselle military airfield was named after General Beltrami. After it was converted into the city's commercial airport , it was later named after the President of the Republic, Alessandro Pertini .

Web links

• Il Generale Gian Mario Beltrami (Italian)
• Associazione Culturale 4 ° Stormo Gorizia (Italian)
• Information about Beltrami on merlo.org (Italian; PDF file; 410 kB)