Guido Beggiato was born on 23 July 1914 and was from Vicenza.

On 13 July 1936, he was commissioned (in Servizio Permanente Effettivo).

Guido Beggiato served as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, where he served in the XXIII Gruppo.

During his time in Spain, he claimed three victories with the Fiat CR.32.

He was promoted to Capitano on 13 January 1941.

On 12 December 1941, the 6^o Gruppo saw the first action in North Africa. Ten MC.202 (six from the 79^a Squadriglia and four from the 81^a Squadriglia), led by Tenente Colonnello Vezio Mezzetti, had taken off at 13:10 for a free sweep in the Gazala-Tobruk-El Adem area. The Macchis were divided in two pairs in echelon right and two vics, weather was cloudy. At 13:30, at the height of 3000 m., they met a formation of around 50 enemy fighters (Curtiss P-40s and Hurricanes), flying west.
The Macchis attacked even if outnumbered and every pilot was engaged by many enemy fighters.
Back at base at 14:00, Capitano Beggiato claimed a P-40 and Maresciallo Natalino Stabile claimed a Hurricane. 20 more enemy fighters were claimed damaged (twelve P-40s and eight Hurricanes), many of these were seen to flee emitting smoke trails (1603 rounds of ammunition had been used). Sergente Renato Saiani (MM7880) was obliged to force-land wounded in friendly territory but was obliged to burn his plane to avoid its capture and Capitano Domenico Camarda (MM7767) came back with his fighter so damaged that it had to be written off.
Hurribombers of 80 Squadron were out to attack Axis vehicles near Derna with twelve Hurricanes of RNFS (Royal Navy Fighter Squadron), which had taken off at 13:00, that provided close cover and with a top cover of nine Tomahawks of 250 Squadron (they recorded the take off at 12:00 but this is probably wrong). The Hurricanes recognized small groups of motor vehicles and attacked them with bombs carrying out a shallow dive from 900 to 300m. The bombs were not well placed, but four motor vehicles were burnt. They then came down to machine gun. At this point, Sergeant R. Whyte (Hurricane Z4776) was shot down, probably by machine gunners on the ground.
On the return to base, 80 Squadron split into two groups flying at 600m. At 14:00, between Tmini and Gazala, five Hurricanes were attacked by Bf 109s at the same height or higher. The 80 Squadron didn’t claim anything in the encounter but lost three more Hurricanes; Flying Officer Peter Townley Dowding (Z4931), Pilot Officer Reynolds (Z4501) and Sergeant G. F. Halliwell (Z4031). All four pilots (including White) from the Squadron pilots were taken PoWs. Two more Hurricanes were damaged; one badly.
The 250 Squadron reported that the clash took part after the ground attack and they reported encountering several Bf 109 and twelve MC.202 with a cloud cover of 7/10 (in contradiction to what the Italian diaries noted saying that the enemy formation was headed west).
Sergeant Robert Whittle (AN313) reported:

‘Gazala - Derna road. Led formation 9 A/C top cover. Engaged 12 Macchi 202 for 20 minutes. Self shot down 1 Macchi (burnt on the ground) also probable Ju.88 over Menelao Bay (black and white smoke from port engine + port wheel hanging down). Attacked by 8 Macchi 202 escaped in cloud.
2 explosive bullets in port wing and one in propeller.’

‘Top cover to 80 Squadron met 109’s and Mc202 Flamer 1 Me109F confirmed Destroyed.’

‘Patrol Escort to Dive bombers
Attacked by 8 Mc202 and some Me109’s from above. P/O Waddy shot down a Me109, Sgt. Nitschke 1 Mc202, Self 1 Me109 probable, SGT Whittle 1 Me109 and 1 Ju88 probable, P/O Ranger 1 Me109. Sgt Whittle's machine damaged.’

‘Our formation manoeuvred until this Me. 109 flew straight across the formation and our leader, Maj. Osler, jumped on its tail. The Me. 109, with Maj. Osier about 20 yards behind flying at it, flew across me. I turned to the left and dived after them. I saw the Me. 109 smoking and obviously going down. I then attempted to rejoin our formation but could not find it As 2 Tomahawks would not let me form up with them, I flew west on my own in order to investigate some bombing that I could see taking place.
I came across a Ju.88 flying in a N.E. direction at 5-6000 feet. I looked about for its escort, but not seeing any I decided to go in and attack. I fired a long burst at it from dead astern. This quietened the gunner, but did not appear to have any effect on the E/A itself. I then made a shallow dive and coming up underneath the Ju.88 I aimed at the port wing root. As the result of my fire / saw a thin stream of black smoke which later developed in density, come up from the port engine.
It was then I saw 3 Me.109F’s on my right and about 2000 feet above me. Two of them made an attack and I turned into them. After milling about with them I decided to get away into the clouds for I knew I was short of ammunition. I climbed into the clouds and as soon as I straightened out I felt three violent explosions. My A/C was hit. I lost control of it completely and then baled out. I was picked up by our forward troops and returned to my Squadron the following day.’

Between 14:55-16:20 on 8 June 1942, nine MC.202s from the Macchis of the 6^o Gruppo (three from the 79^a Squadriglia, two from the 81^a Squadriglia and four from the 88^a Squadriglia) led by Capitano Beggiato, were on a free sweep over the Bir Hacheim-Bir el Harmat area. At 15:30 they were flying at an altitude of 5,000m when they intercepted and attacked an enemy formation of an estimated 20 aircraft split between P-40s and Hurricanes (another source reported two formations of ten and fifteen aircraft at an altitude of 1,000 and 6,000 m respectively). Two pilots from the 79^a Squadriglia fired 60 rounds each on the enemy aircraft (Sergente Maggiore Ercole Paroli and Sergente Saiani while Capitano Beggiato claimed a probable P-40 (140 rounds) A section would have remained at a higher altitude as top cover while the formation below clashed with against the enemy and only Sottotenent Alfredo Civetta (88^a Squadriglia) was the only one to intervene of the higher section when he fired at three enemy planes (335 rounds). Tenente Antonio Palazzeschi (81^a Squadriglia, MC.202 MM7898) was shot down and managed to bale out safely but was taken prisoner (with five victories to his credit, he was one of the aces of the 1^o Stormo).
It seems that they had clashed against nine Hurricanes of 33 Squadron (16:04-17:30) that were escorting twelve Hurribombers of 274 Squadron on an attack of motor vehicles near Bu Amud, 10 miles east of Bir Hakeim. Two Spitfires flown by Flying Officer J. J. P. Sabourin (Spitfire Vb AB324/ZX-L) and Sergeant H. G. James (AB324/ZX-L) of 145 Squadron (16:00-16:50) were extra top cover for the Hurricanes. The top flight of 33 Squadron was attacked by reportedly three Bf l09s. This caused Sergeant P. Menzies (Hurricane IIb Z5270) to make a forced-landing at Bu Amud (Cat.II) at 16:00, presumably hit by Capitano Beggiato. Only one pilot of 33 Squadron managed to get a good burst at the attackers.
274 Squadron was not attacked but saw MC.202s below which they targeted at 16:04. Pilot Officer G. C. Keefer (BE281) claimed a MC.202 destroyed while Sergeant G. J. Craggs claimed a second one damaged. No casualties were sustained by the squadron.
The two Spitfire attacked a reportedly ten Bf 109s to the south-west of Tobruk and claimed one destroyed as a shared between the two pilots. This was first confirmed claim by Spitfire pilots in North Africa.
Six Kittyhawks of 250 Squadron also operated in the same area (16:25-17:20). They were escorting eight fighters of 3 RAAF Squadron (16:20-17:20) and seven of 112 Squadron (15:50-16:45) in bombing and reconnaissance action over Bir Hacheim. Just to the east of Bir Hacheim, 250 Squadron was attacked four times by 14 enemy aircraft split between Bf 109s and MC.202s. Nevertheless, they managed to hinder the attack, allowing the fighter-bombers to proceed untroubled to the target. Flying Officer Copeland (Kittyhawk Ia AL182) stated:

“When approaching target I saw a standing patrol of 14 AC over B. Hakeim. They tried to attack 3 Sqn below us but I turned towards them with my formation of 5 ac and they climbed up behind us. They made another attack on 3 Sqn. and again we turned head on, and they climbed up above us. They then carried out two attacks on us and 3 Sqn. took this opportunity to bomb the target. ... followed by 1 Me. 109 who made two abortive attacks. ... The AC appeared to be MC.202 and Me.109.”

In 1943, he served in the 1^o Stormo.

At 13:00 on 2 February 1943, six Tunisia-based MC.202s from the 6^o Gruppo reportedly attacked a formation of bombers escorted by many P-38s. One of the P-38s was claimed a shot down 30 km north-west of Sfax by Capitano Beggiato of the 81^a Squadriglia. No losses among the Italian aircraft were reported.
It’s possible that they had been in combat with P-38s from 94th FS, 1st FG, since 1st Lieutenant Robert D. Neale Jr. and 2nd Lieutenant Donald M. Quinn claimed a shared damaged single-engined Italian aircraft over Sfax at 12:45. No corresponding losses for P-38s have been found.
Between 12:10-13:00, Allied bombers destroyed one S.79 on the ground at Sfax, killing one airman and injuring another.

Beggiato ended the war with 3 biplane victories and a total of 6.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	193?
1	??/??/3?		1	Enemy aircraft	Destroyed	Fiat CR.32		Spain	XXIII Gruppo
2	??/??/3?		1	Enemy aircraft	Destroyed	Fiat CR.32		Spain	XXIII Gruppo
3	??/??/3?		1	Enemy aircraft	Destroyed	Fiat CR.32		Spain	XXIII Gruppo
	1941
4	12/12/41		1	P-40 (a)	Destroyed	MC.202		Gazala-Tobruk-El Adem	81a Squadriglia
	1942
	08/06/42	15:30-16:20	1	P-40 (b)	Probably destroyed	MC.202		Bir el Harmat	81a Squadriglia
	1943
5	02/02/43	13:00	1	P-38 (c)	Destroyed	MC.202		30km NW Sfax	81a Squadriglia
6	??/??/4?		1	Enemy aircraft	Destroyed

Biplane victories: 3 destroyed.
TOTAL: 6 destroyed, 1 probably destroyed.
(a) Probably claimed in combat with Tomahawks from 250 Squadron and Hurricanes from 80 Squadron. 250 Squadron claimed 2 MC.202s, 3 Bf 109s and 1 probable, 1 Ju 87 and 1 probable Ju 88 while losing Tomahawk AN290 (pilot WIA). The 80 Squadron lost 4 Hurricanes (pilot POW) with 2 more damaged. The 6^o Gruppo claimed 1 P-40 and 1 Hurricane for the loss of 2 MC.202.
(b) Probably claimed in combat with fighters from 33, 274, 145, 250, 112 and 3 RAAF Squadrons, which claimed 1 destroyed and 1 damaged while getting 1 Hurricane damaged. The 6^o Gruppo claimed 1 probable P-40s while losing 1 MC.202.
(c) Possibly claimed in combat with P-38s from 94th FS, which claimed 1 damaged MC.202 without losses. The 6^o Gruppo claimed 1 destroyed P-38 without losses.

Sources:
A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945: Volume One – Christopher Shores and Giovanni Massimello with Russell Guest, 2012 Grub Street, London, ISBN 978-1908117076
A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945: Volume Two – Christopher Shores and Giovanni Massimello with Russell Guest, Frank Olynyk & Winfried Bock, 2012 Grub Street, London, ISBN-13: 9781909166127
A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945: Volume Three – Christopher Shores and Giovanni Massimello with Russell Guest, Frank Olynyk & Winfried Bock, 2016 Grub Street, London, ISBN-13: 9781910690000
Annuario Ufficiale Delle Forze Armate Del Regno D’Italia Anno 1943. Part III Regia Aeronautica – 1943 Istituto Poligrafico Dello Stato, Roma
Elenco Nominativo dei Militari dell’ A. M. Decorati al V. M. Durante it Periodo 1929 - 1945 1 Volume A - L
Istituto Poligrafico Dello Stato, Roma
Assi Italiani Della Caccia 1936-1945 - Giovanni Massimello, 1999 Aerofan no. 69 apr.-giu. 1999, Giorgio Apostolo Editore, Milan
La Battaglie Aeree In Africa Settentrionale: Novembre-Dicembre 1941 – Michele Palermo, IBN, ISBN 88-7565-102-7