Aviation Museum in Trento, Italy
In the Northern Italian city of “Trento”, located at the airport, is an aviation museum with unique material. The “Museo dell’Aeronautica Gianni Caproni” museum is not large but very beautiful.
It is spacious and well lit. They display first world war and second world war material. The aircraft from the first world war outnumber the second world war planes in the museum.The museum is very pleasant to visit, it is spatial, open and inviting to snoop around.
Martino Aichner
In the museum are some flight simulators to play with. And an enthusiastic hostess. She told me the story of Martino Aichner, an Italian pilot from the 2nd World War era.
Martino Aichner flew the Savoia-Marchetti SM 79 in a combined attack with Navy and air force on English ships in the Mediterranean Sea.
Martino Aichner and his team sank an English ship, the HMS Bedouin. They themselves were shot down during this attack and lost all their proof of their action.
The Italian Navy which also fired at the English ship took the credits for sinking of the HMS Bedouin.
Martino Aichner lost his air force rank was transferred to another army branch. This was common practice in the Italian air force at the time. In 4 flights you had to sink a ship or be transferred to the Navy or army.
After the war Martino Aichner travelled to England to speak with a survivor of the HMS Bedouin. Who could confirm that a plane torpedoed the final blow on the HMS Bedouin.
Martino Aichner had his evidence and he and his crew received their “post war” acknowledgement for their actions.
Visit
The Museum is open for the public. It closes during the afternoon break, after the break you can enter with the same admission ticket to finish your visit.
Visit the museum website for more information:
Link to the museum website in Italian
Information on the museum in English
