Arrigo Tessari

Arrigo Tessari (Belluno, 4 January 1897 – 5 September 1971) was an Italian Air Force general during World War II. He commanded Italian air forces in Albania and later Greece from 1940 to 1942, and was deputy chief of staff of the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana from March to July 1944 and its chief of staff from July to August 1944, as well as State Undersecretary for the Air Force of the Italian Social Republic.

Biography

He was born on 4 January 1897 in Belluno, and during the First World War he served as in Albania with the rank of lieutenant, flying as a pilot in the 85th Fighter Squadron. In October 1923 he joined the newly established Regia Aeronautica, as commander of the 89th Ansaldo SVA Squadron, stationed in Tripolitania. He participated in the pacification of Libya in the colonial aviation over the next eight years, returning to Italy with a Silver and a Bronze Medal of Military Valor.

From 1937 to 1939 he participated in the Spanish Civil War, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, in command of the 16th Fighter Group "La Cucaracha", belonging to the 3rd Fighter Wing of the Aviazione Legionaria based in Caspe. In December 1938 his Group was tasked with supporting the Nationalist advance on Barcelona. With the end of the war in Spain he returned to Italy, and on April 15, 1939 he was appointed commander of the 53rd Ground Fighter Wing (equipped with Fiat CR.42 biplane fighters), based on the Turin-Caselle airport, a post he still held at the time of the entry of the Kingdom of Italy into World War II, on 10 June 1940.

After the war he was councilor at the Belluno section of the Bank of Italy, president of the "Arturo Dell'Oro" Aeroclub of Belluno from 1949 to 1964 and from 1967 to 1970, and president of the Belluno section of the Italian Red Cross. He died in Belluno on 5 September 1971.