Ferruccio Ranza

Brigadier General Ferruccio Ranza (9 September 1892—25 April 1973) began his military career as a World War I flying ace credited with seventeen confirmed victories and eight unconfirmed ones. Postwar, he rose to command of several area commands of the resurgent Italian Air Force. He served through the end of World War II.

Biography

Early life Ferruccio Ranza was born on 9 September 1892 in Fiorenzuola d'Arda, the Kingdom of Italy.

World War I service

Ranza was a Sottotenente in the engineers when World War I broke out, being assigned on 8 November 1914 as a lieutenant in 1st Engineer Regiment. He attended the flight school at Venaria. His first assignment, on 14 October 1915, was to 43a Squadriglia to fly reconnaissance missions. He won a Bronze award of the Medal for Military Valor for carrying out an artillery spotting mission under heavy fire on 1 April 1916. Five days later, flying a Nieuport 11, he downed a Hansa-Brandenburg C.I. On 14 September 1916, he shot down a seaplane and the Military Order of Savoy.

Ranza remained in the Italian Air Force postwar. In February 1924, he took command of the 13th Group. On 15 April 1927, he stepped up to command of 2nd Wing. He rose to command of Italian air assets in Tripolitania, in 1928, then returned to Italy as Chief of Staff for 1st Zone Air Place. From January to September 1935, he returned to Italian East Africa being promoted in March to Brigadier General. In May 1939, he moved to become Air Officer Commanding in Albania. The following year, he was appointed AOC Southern Italy. Ranza retired on 29 January 1945. He died in Bologna, Italy on 25 April 1973.