Cosimo Rennella
| Cosimo Rennella | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | "Cosme" |
| Born |
15 February 1890 Secondigliano, Naples, Italy |
| Died | 3 May 1937 (aged 47) Quito, Ecuador |
| Allegiance | Ecuador Italy |
| Service/branch | Corpo Aeronautico Militare |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
| Unit |
31a Squadriglia 32a Squadriglia 45a Squadriglia 48a Squadriglia 78a Squadriglia |
| Awards | 2 × Silver Medal of Military Valor (Italy) War Merit Cross (Italy) Croix de guerre (France) Croix de guerre (Belgium) Order of Abdon Calderón, 2nd Class (Ecuador) |
| Other work | Pioneered civil aviation in South America; helped found Ecuadorian Air Force |
Lieutenant Colonel Cosimo Rennella Barbatto was an Ecuadorian World War I flying ace of Italian heritage. He was credited with seven confirmed aerial victories flying for Italian aviation during the war; however, his pioneering civil aviation activities both before and immediately following the war were probably even more important than his martial career.
He was born in Italy as Cosimo Rennella on 15 February 1890, but in 1892, the toddler accompanied his family when they emigrated to Guayaquil, Ecuador. While there, his name was Latinized into Cosimo Rennella Barbatto by appending his mother's maiden name, though he was usually called "Cosme". In 1909, he volunteered to serve in the Patria I Battalion in military operations against Peru.
In 1911, Rennella persuaded a local sportsman's club, the Club Guayas de Tiro Aviacion (Guayas Shooting and Aviation Club), to sponsor his pilot's training; his aim was to be the first flier in Ecuador. The club underwrote Rennella's journey to Pau, France to learn to fly. There the young tyro became a pilot using French Blériot military aircraft. He finally qualified for his civil pilot's license at Turin's Chiribiri flying school on 24 August 1912. Following that, he accompanied a pair of Nieuportish monoplanes back across the Atlantic to Panama.
By the time Rennella and his two traveling companions returned to Central America with an aircraft, the first flight in Ecuador, which was by Chilean Lieutenant Eduardo Molina Lavín, had taken place in their absence. Rennella's new aircraft was a copy of a French Nieuport, built by Navaro and Valgoi of Torino, Italy. On 15 December 1912, having been forbidden to fly across the Isthmus of Panama by U. S. officials, he flew an unauthorized flight in this aircraft over Panama City, leafletting the town with fliers thanking the populace for their support of his flight, in may have been the first aerial pamphlet drop in history.
...
Wikipedia