Fiorello La Guardia

www.columbuscitizensfd.orgwww.ItalianAmericanMuseum.org

One of New York City’s most beloved mayors, La Guardia also had a passion for flying and was a close friendof the Italian American aircraft designer Giuseppe Bellanca. In 1912, Fiorello La Guardia agreed to serve asthe director and legal representative of Giuseppe Bellanca’s Aeroplane Company in return for flying lessons.With Bellanca’s help, La Guardia learned how get his plane off the ground and land by the summer of 1915.Upon America’s entry into the First World War in 1917, Captain La Guardia was stationed at the Italian RoyalFlying School at Foggia, Italy and second in command of the Eighth Aviation Instruction Center. La Guardialearned how to handle the Italian manufactured Caprioni planes.

Throughout his subsequent career as a congressman and mayor of New York, La Guardia remained a staunchsupporter of aviation. Indeed, the Little Flower’s aviation legacy culminated in New York City’s first majorcommercial airport being named in his honor.

Italian American MuseumColumbus Citizens Foundation

Italian Americans in AviationPresent

and

Giuseppe Bellanca Aviation PioneerBorn in Sciacca, Sicily in 1886

Built his first airplane in Milan 1908

Established Bellanca AeroplaneCompany in Mineola L.I. in 1912

Designed Columbia, firstplane to make non-stopflight New York –Berlin in1927 two weeks afterLindbergh

Dominic S. Gentile“Ace of Aces”

www.ItalianAmericanMuseum.org www.columbuscitizensfd.org

Italian American Museumand

Columbus Citizens FoundationPresent

Italian Americans in Aviation

Don S. Gentile was one of the deadliest men ever topilot a fighter plane. His tally of 30 downed enemyaircraft in 1944 made him the highest-scoring fighterpilot in American history and earned him the title”Ace of Aces.”

The son of Italian immigrants, Dominic S. Gentilewas born in Piqua, Ohio on December 6, 1920 andstarted flying while still in high school. Eager tojoin World War II after Germany invaded Poland,Gentile joined the Royal Canadian Air Force andlater moved to the US Air Force. His successeswere astounding. German Reichsmarshall HermanGoering declared that he would trade two Luftwaffesquadrons for “the Italian Gentile and his wingmanGodfrey.” In April 1944, Don Gentile’s total ofthirty enemy kills surpassed the United Statesrecord of twenty-six held by World War I ace EddieRickenbacker, making Gentile the new “Ace ofAces.”

For his heroic feats, Don Gentile was awarded theDistinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf; theDistinguished Flying Cross with seven Oak LeafClusters; the Silver Star; four Air Medals, as wellas other foreign medals. President Franklin D.Roosevelt named Gentile “Captain Courageous,”and General Dwight D. Eisenhower called him “aone man air force.” Dominic S. Gentile will for-ever be remembered as one of America’s most cou-rageous flying aces.