Federico Martinengo

Rear Admiral Federico Carlo Martinengo was a World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories.

Early life and service
Federico Carlo Martinengo was born in Rome on 18 July 1897. He was the son of a naval officer. He studied the classics in school before moving on to the Regia Accademia Navale in Leghorn in September 1911. He was serving on the Italian battleship RN Dante Alighieri when Italy entered the war in 1915.

World War I
Martinengo volunteered for aviation soon after the war began. He trained at Taranto, then reported to the main Italian naval base at Venice, in September 1916.

On 10 October 1916, he was flying as an observer with Pietro Valdimiro when they clashed with an Austro-Hungarian seaplane. From a position below and ahead of the seaplane, Martinengo managed to knock out its engine with gunfire. This first victory was soon followed by a second on the 23rd. Then, on 11 November, Martinengo was transferred to Grado. His friendly good cheer was to be put to the test in the command of 1a Squadriglia (soon to be re-dubbed 253a Squadriglia).

Summer 1917 was spent by Martinengo familiarizing himself with a new plane, the Macchi M.5 seaplane. When enough of the new planes accumulated, they were formed into the new 260a Squadriglia with Martinengo included. The new squadron was thrown immediately into battle covering the retreat from the Battle of Caporetto. On 5 November 1917, they were disgraced during an escort mission, when the Austro-Hungarian aces Godwin Brumowski, Frank Linke-Crawford, and Rudolf Szepessy-Sokoll shot down the Macchi L.3 being escorted. In December, Martinengo was promoted to command of the squadron.

About February 1918, he was promoted to Tenente di Vascello. On 4 May 1918, he led an interception off Trieste of four Austro-Hungarian seaplanes led by Gottfried Freiherr von Banfield. Three of the Austro-Hungarian planes fell before the guns of Martinengo, Calvello, Pierozzi and their squadronmates. Banfield also went down, but escaped by gliding to friendly waters, where he was rescued. In June, Martinengo was transferred off combat duty after 172 sorties; he moved to Bolsena Flying School. There he taught American as well as Italian naval aviators. In September, he was posted to Otranto. The war ended during this assignment.

Post World War I
Martinengo remained in the surface navy after the war. In 1931-1933, he commanded the Italian naval detachment at Tianjin, China.

At the start of World War II, on 9 July 1940, he commanded the light cruiser Muzio Attendolo at the Battle of Calabria. On 9 September 1943, after the Italians had switched sides in the war, Martinengo was killed in action at the helm of his ship, VAS 234, fighting German ships in an action near Gorgona. He was awarded a posthumous Gold award of the Medal for Military Valor; he had previously won two Silver awards and the Croce di Guerra.