Sabato Martelli Castaldi

Sabato Martelli Castaldi (19 August 1896 – 24 March 1944) was an Italian Air Force general and a member of the Italian Resistance during World War II. He was executed during the Ardeatine massacre.

Biography

He participated as a volunteer in the First World War, initially as an artillery Lieutenant and later in the Army Air Corps; from 23 April 1918 he was a pilot in the 4th SVA Section, based in Treviso and Vedelago, which from 20 October became the 56th Squadron, earning a Silver and two Bronze Medals of Military Valor. After the war, he graduated in aeronautical engineering at the Polytechnic of Turin. From 1919 to 1921, he served in the Army Air Corps in Libya, participating in operations against the Senussi rebels, after which he returned to Italy; he played an important role in the creation of the Regia Aeronautica, which he joined immediately after its establishment in 1923. In the same period, he also joined the National Fascist Party.

In 1931, with the rank of colonel, he became chief of staff of Air Marshal Italo Balbo, Minister of the Air Force, participating in the Decennial Air Cruise and being entrusted with the rapport between Balbo and Benito Mussolini. In 1933, at only thirty-six years of age, he was promoted to air brigadier general (equivalent to air commodore), becoming the youngest general in the Italian Air Force. After Balbo's replacement with General Giuseppe Valle, however, he soon fell out of favour, like other officers closely linked with Balbo, whose relationship with Mussolini had become strained. In November 1935, he was forcibly discharged from active service "for lack of judgment", after reporting some embezzlement issues within the Air Force and writing a report to Mussolini about the deficiencies within the Air Force under the leadership of Valle.