ANTONIO LOCATELLI
1895-1936
  
 
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Antonio Locatelli
Italian Air Force Historical Office
Courtesy of Don Fiore
  
   
  Biography Crossing the Andes
Trans-Atlantic
1919-1924		 Tijuca, Brazil
English Version
Versão Portuguesa		  

 
   
  Ansaldo SVA
Restored		 Locatelli Memorial
Bergamo, Italy
2005		  

 
 
ONLINE RESOURCES
     If you search for Antonio Locatelli using the Google search engine, (8-26-03), you will find about 450 links! If you restrict the search to "Antonio Locatelli +aviation" you will find about 44 links. One of the most interesting is the following.		  
 
HISTORY OF THE GHEDI AERODROME
     Although there is only a brief reference to the activities of Locatelli, this article is important to anyone wanting to understand the development of aviation in Italy. The following paragraph was extracted from the article so as to highlight the many pioneer aviators who played a part in its history. It is amply illustrated with seven photographs. I think you will want to read the whole article which details the history from 1909 to 2002.

     "The beginning of the flying activity in Ghedi was in 1909 when in the moor on the border with Montichiari was organized an airshow of international importance which saw the participation of airmen such as Wright, Calderara, Cobianchi, Cagno, Rougier, Curtiss, Moucher, Lebland, Anzani and Blériot, who won the "Brescia Grand Prize" flying 50 Km. in 49.24" with a biplane aircraft, while Curtiss won the height race reaching 92 metres. Among the spectators were numbered the Princess Letizia Savoy Bonaparte, Franz Kafka, who acted as foreign correspondent for a newspaper, and Gabriele d'Annunzio, who flew as passenger on Wright's airplane and that would later make of aviation one of his greatest passions (very famous remained his "Flight over Vienna")."

     To access the site, just click on the title above.
 
     I have examined many of the other links, but it is very difficult for me to make much sense of them, inasmuch as I don't read Italian. If you have the time, and the patience, you will be able to find bits and pieces of his story. You should be aware of the existence of an important airport, Orio al Serio, in Bergamo, which honors their native son. 		 

 
 
OTHER HISTORIC AIRPORTS
via email from Don Fiore - 9-1-03
     In addition to Ghedi, other very early but important Italian airfields included Centocelle (Rome) where Wilbur Wright gave his first Italian demonstration), Gioa De Colle, & Aviano (still used today by the United States).		  

 
 
RECOMMENDED READING
  
 
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THE AIR SHOW AT BRESCIA, 1909
by Peter Demeter
     This book of 272 pages, published by Farrar Straus & Giroux; 1st edition (October 23, 2002), is available online from both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.		  

 
 
 
 
Antonio Locatelli was killed in action
at Lekempti, Ethiopia on June 27, 1936.
Personal communication from Don Fiore - 8-30-03
 
Editor's Note:
If you have any information on this pioneer aviator
please contact me.
E-mail to Ralph Cooper
  

 
 
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