Lamberto Bartolucci

Lamberto Bartolucci

Lamberto Bartolucci (born June 21, 1924 in Orbetello , † February 26, 2020 in Rome ) was an Italian general . From 1980 to 1983 he was Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force , from 1983 to 1986 Chief of Staff of the Italian Armed Forces . Bartolucci was at the helm of the Italian Air Force when Itavia Flight 870 was shot down and had primary responsibility for its role during and after the shooting down. Bartolucci and other generals were finally acquitted in a criminal trial in 2007 . However, a 2013 ruling ordered the Italian state to compensate the victims' families.

Military background

Lamberto Bartolucci began his officer training with the Italian Air Force in 1942 . After the armistice of Cassibile , he joined the Resistancea in September 1943 . After the Second World War , he successfully completed his officer and pilot training and then served in a squadron in Verona-Villafranca . After a post in the Air Force General Staff, he was commander of a squadron in Gioia del Colle in 1970 , after which he returned to the General Staff. As brigadier general , Bartolucci commanded an operations center of the Italian Air Force in Martina Franca , southern Italy , and from 1974 the operations department of the Air Force General Staff. As a major general he commanded the air transport and air rescue command, then the telecommunications and air traffic control command , and finally as lieutenant general . Bartolucci became Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force on April 2, 1980, and then Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces on October 13, 1983.

Itavia flight 870

At the time of the shooting down of Itavia flight 870 off the island of Ustica on June 27, 1980, Bartolucci had been chief of staff of Aeronautica Militare for almost three months . In this role he followed orders from the Italian government, that is, the then Prime Minister Francesco Cossiga , the then Defense Minister Lelio Lagorio and the then State Secretary in the Council of Ministers Presidium Giuliano Amato . In Italy, the government, its secret services and the Italian air force systematically covered up the Itavia downing, for example by disappearing radar and radio recordings. In addition to the military intelligence service SISMI , the air force intelligence service SIOS-Aeronautica played a role in this context .

Lamberto Bartolucci and his colleagues Franco Ferri, Zeno Tascio and Corrado Melillo campaigned for a long time to explain that the Itavia plane crashed due to a bomb attack and that the Italian air force had nothing to do with the incident. However, a ruling from 2013 once again confirmed the launch by a rocket.

Web links

• Gene. SA Lamberto Bartolucci. In: aeronautica.difesa.it . (Italian, short biography). 
• Generale SA Lamberto Bartolucci. In: difesa.it . (Italian, short biography). 
• Cronologia: Strage di Ustica - 27 anni di misteri. In: repubblica.it . January 10, 2007(Italian). 
• Ustica - La verità negata. In: La Storia siamo noi . Archived from the original on March 16, 2018 (Italian). 
• Rino Di Stefano: Il DC-9 Itavia esploso nell ''80 ad Ustica fu colpito dal razzo di un “jet nemico”. In: rinodistefano.com. (Italian, comments on the judgments of January 10, 2007 and January 28, 2013). 
  • The DC-9 of Ustica Was Shot Down by a Missile. (English). 
• Michael Braun: Ustica plane crash in 1980: collapse of the Lies building. In: taz.de . January 29, 2013 . 
• Tiziano Soresina: Ustica, sparito il nastro con le ultime parole di Gatti. In: Gazzetta di Reggio. January 30, 2013 (Italian). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gregory Alegi: Vi racconto chi era il generale Lamberto Bartolucci. Il ricordo di Alegi. In: formiche.net. February 26, 2020, accessed February 27, 2020 (Italian).