Italy
Capitano Ugo Drago
Italy
Capitano Ugo Drago
3 March 1915 – 22 April 2007
Ugo Drago was born in Arborio (Vercelli) on 3 March 1915.
He obtained a diploma from the Rome Accademia di Educazione Fisica (Academy of Physical Education) and worked for a time as an instructor.
On 27 June 1938 he obtained the Civil Pilot's Licence and on the following October he entered in the Regia Aeronautica Air Academy of Caserta as Sottotenente Pilota. He was trained to be a military pilot in the Flight School of Capua and later in the Fighter Pilot's School of Castiglione del Lago.
On 19 March 1939 he obtained the Military Pilot's Licence and on 16 May he was assigned to 363a Squadriglia, 150o Gruppo C.T.
Sottotenente Drago was in action since the first day of Italian involvement in the Second World War, taking part in the operations against France on 10 June 1940 and being awarded with the Croce di Guerra al Valore Militare on 13 June for his gallantry.
On 28 October, with 20 missions already accomplished, his unit was transferred to the Greek front and on 2 November 1940 Sottotenente Drago claimed his first victory.
He was leading a section of a formation of twelve Fiat CR.42s escorting ten S.79s headed to bomb Salonika. On the target Drago saw two Greek P.Z.L. P.24s attacking the bombers. While his wingman attacked one, Drago attacked the other. The combat started at 5.000 meters and ended at 2.000 meters with the enemy fighter crashing on fire into the ground.
On 14 November, Drago had a hectic day. The airfield at Koritza was near to the frontline and was attacked daily. On that day enemy Fairey Battles were bombing at low height and Drago took off during the bombing. He attacked one Battle and spent all his ammunitions but didn't manage to shoot it down.
On the same morning, after another failed interception, he had a dogfight alone against five P.Z.L. P.24s and barely managed to escape. While returning to Koritza he saw two more P.Z.L.s, attacked them, but was hit again and only the intervention of a second CR.42 allowed him to make it back to the airfield.
In the afternoon, while on a cover patrol over the airfields in the area, four CR.42s flown by Sottotenente Drago, Sottotenente Ernesto Trevisi, Sergente Augusto Manetti and Sergente Vittorio Pirchio intercepted two P.Z.L. P.24s, but they were a trap, as ten more enemy fighters were waiting higher. In the ensuing dogfight Drago claimed two enemy biplanes shot down individually and three more shared with the other three pilots.
The Greeks shot down Trevisi, who was killed, and Manetti, who baled out over Italian held territory, while Pirchio's aircraft was badly shot-up and he was wounded in the left foot; his fighter overturned on landing.
Epismingos Theodoropoulos and his pilots from 23 Mira submitted claims for eight CR.42s during the day. A number of PZLs may have been damaged, and some possibly shot down but no Greek pilots were killed or wounded during this engagement.
This action earned Drago a Medaglia d'argento al Valor Militare "in the field".
According to Drago's personal notes, he claimed another victory on 18 December over Valona, but his fourth "official" victory was scored on 13 February 1941, during a weather reconnaissance over Telepenë. While flying in the Argyrokastron valley, he saw a Fairey Battle, attacked it and shot it down, witnessing its crash on the mountainside.
After 150o Gruppo re-equipped with the Macchi C.200 during March 1941, the successful career of Drago continued, always in the 363a Squadriglia, and by the end of 1941 he had flown 150 missions.
On 31 December 1941, he advanced to the rank of Tenente.
Meanwhile, since mid-December his unit had been transferred to the North African front.
On 14 February, seven MC.202s of the 88a Squadriglia took off at 11:30, led by Maggiore Marco Larcher, to escort seven CR.42s of the 3o Gruppo and nine MC.200s of the 150o Gruppo (from the 364a and 365a Squadriglie) that were to attack enemy vehicles in the Bir Hacheim area. Six more MC.200s from the 363a Squadriglia, 150o Gruppo helped the Folgores in the escort duty. As usual, the Saettas were the close escort while the MC.202s were top cover.
Weather conditions gradually deteriorated so, over the target the couple of Macchis flying at superior height lost sight of the rest of the formation.
At 12:00, at the height of 2000 m., a formation of around 20 P-40s that was trying to attack the other Italian aircraft was intercepted. Three victories were claimed by the pilots of the 88a Squadriglia (one by Tenente Gino Ramarini and two by Maresciallo Natalino Stabile), plus one probable and ten damaged. Tenente Giannuzzi Savelli failed to return (KIA) while Sergente Maggiore Alfredo Bordin belly-landed reportedly with no fuel left. He was slightly wounded but the fighter was recovered, a third Macchi was slightly damaged. The 88a Squadriglia landed back at 13:05 and had expended 1610 round of ammunition.
In the meantime the six MC 200s of the close escort were having a very hard time. Sottotenente Maurizio Nicolis di Robilant and Sergente Bruno Dellai failed to return and two more pilots returned with the plane damaged. To balance these losses the 363a Squadriglia pilots could only claim to have damaged 15 Curtiss with the use of 2110 rounds.
The ground attack Macchis, which claimed to have hit 21 vehicles, leaving eight of them in flames, were reportedly not engaged by the enemy fighters but suffered many losses due to the AA fire. Tenente Armando Badessi parachuted, Sergente Maggiore Angeloni force-landed and later returned to base while a third Macchi was damaged. Additionally a CR.42 was obliged to force-land and was later recovered.
The Italian formation had been attacked by ten Kittyhawks from 112 Squadron and eight from 3 RAAF Squadron. 112 Squadron reported that they scrambled with ten Kittyhawks led by Pilot Officer John Bartle together with eight aircraft of 3 RAAF Squadron to meet an approaching enemy formation. After flying to Tobruk, the Kittyhawks turned west over the Perimeter defences and climbed steadily until, over Acroma, 3 RAAF were at 8,000 ft with 112 Squadron slightly ahead and above, just below the cloud base at the ideal height for the Kittyhawk. At that moment they spotted about a dozen MC.200s and MC.202s in a loose vic formation 2,000 ft below. Pilot Officer Bartle warned the Australians who, however, were more interested in a formation of enemy bombers with a close escort flying lower than 2,000 ft. 112 Squadron concentrated on the fighters who by now were climbing to meet the attack. The Kitthawks dived into them all of the pilots from 112 Squadron made claims. Sergeant Burney, having dived through the Italian fighters found himself amongst enemy bombers and claimed one shot down (claimed as a Ba.65). His victim tried to evade but hit the ground and Burney strafed it. By the time he regained height aircraft were milling around everywhere. Sergeant Cordwell, in his first action, shot away about shot away about three-quarters of the wing of a Bf 109 F, which spun out of control south-west of Acroma. Sergeant Drew claimed two MC.200s south-west of Acroma, one of which he saw hit the ground. "It was easy as breakfast in bed" he is quoted as saying. Pilot Officer Duke attacked a MC.200 south-west of Acoma, which was seen to spin and crash by Sergeant Evans. He also attacked a second MC.200 at ground level from dead astern and it flew into the ground and burst into flames 20m south-east of Gazala. This was shared with Sergeant Reid of 3 RAAF Squadron. The Italians defensive tactic when evading was to drop down to ground level in rolls and vertical dives. Sergeant Leu attacked a MC.200, which blew up and another which flew into the ground south-east of Gazala. Sergeant Simonsen certainly got a MC.200, which he saw spin down and he probably damaged another. Pilot Officer Dickinson made a stern attack on a MC.200, which was enveloped in a sheet of flames at 1,000 ft. Sergeant Christie claimed two MC.200 and one damaged south-west of Acroma when he dived and gave one Macchi a heavy burst so that the aircraft pulled up steeply and then spiralled and crashed, bursting into flames. He then dived on a second, which stalled, pouring out black smoke and going into a dive. He had a go at a third and probably damaged it but without any visible effect. Sergeant Evans also attacked a MC.200, which was seen to lose about two feet off its starboard wing. It dived away so steeply that it seemed doubtful whether the pilot could have pulled out. Pilot Officer Bartle gave a MC.200 a long burst, which sent it down out of control and damaged a Bf 109, which he chased all the way to Tmimi.
Claiming pilots from 112 Squadron were Pilot Officer Eric Dickinson (AK804) (1 MC.200 at 12:15 south-west of Acroma), Pilot Officer Neville Duke (AK578/GA-V) (1 and 1 shared MC.200), Pilot Officer Bartle (AK700/GA-B) (1 MC.200, 1 probable Bf 109 and 1 damaged Bf 109), Sergeant Rudolf Leu (AK781) (2 MC.200s), Sergeant Henry Burney (AK702) (1 Ba.65 south-west of Acroma), Sergeant Roy Drew (AK653) (2 MC.200s), Sergeant R. E. Simonsen (AK682/GA-U) (1 MC.200 and 1 probable MC.200), Sergeant Ron Christie (AK761) (2 MC.200s and 1 damaged MC.200), Sergeant W. E. G. Cordwell (AK630) (1 Bf 109 F) and Sergeant R. B. Evans (AK637) (1 probable MC 200).
3 RAAF Squadron reported that they scrambled at 11:45 and intercepted 32 enemy aircraft about 20 miles south-east of El Gazala. They tried to attack the bombers but they spotted about six Bf 109s lurking close by. They wheeled round in time and in the ensuing dog-fight four enemy aircraft were destroyed and another damaged. Then, at last, they were able to concentrate on the enemy bombers. All Australians had landed again at 13:20.
Claiming pilots from 3 RAAF Squadron were Sergeant Walter Mailey (AK644) (1 Bf 109s and 1 damaged MC.200), Sergeant Brian Thompson (AK691) (1 MC.202), Pilot Officer Pace (AK664) (1 shared MC.202), Sergeant Gordon White (AK605) (1 Bf 109 and 2 damaged Ju 87s), Flying Officer Peter Giddy (AK665) (2 MC.200s and 1 damaged MC.202), Sergeant F. B. Reid (AK689/CV-W) (1 and 1 shared MC.200 and 1 damaged MC.200), Flying Officer Lou Spence (AK612) (1 Bf 109) and Flying Officer Gray (AK621) (1 damaged Bf 109).
Back at base, the Allied fighters reported that they engaged 32 enemy aircraft and totally they claimed 20 destroyed, 3 probables and 8 damaged without losses. Other Axis units were possibly involved in this combat since the Allied fighters made claims against Ba.65s and Ju 87s. The claims against Bf 109s were probably due to misidentification since no German fighter losses or claims are known for this date. Even if there was some overclaiming it seems that it was really a successful day for the Kittyhawks, which later christened it the “St. Valentine’s day massacre”. The success was helped by the use of RDF in one of the first documented cases in that part of the front, which directed the P-40s to intercept their quarries with height advantage. The Macchis and Fiats were also surprised because of the poor visibility due to bad weather.
Sottotenente Drago took part in the clash as section leader in the close escort formation of the 363a Squadriglia and once back at base searched some sort of consolation claiming that the sacrifice of his Squadriglia avoided more losses to the ground attack units. In fact this battle showed only as the old Saetta, notwithstanding the efforts of its pilots, at the beginning of 1942 was totally inadequate to tangle with its adversaries.
For his achievements in the operations between January and March 1942, he was awarded with a second Medaglia d'argento al Valor Militare and on 7 March, the Germans awarded him with the Ritterkreuz 2nd Class.
He returned with the 150o Gruppo to Italy on 10 November 1942 after a further 124 missions.
On 1 January 1943, Drago was appointed C.O. of 363a Squadriglia and with this rank he faced the Battle for Sicily that lasted from May to July 1943.
The whole 150o Gruppo Autonomo C.T. re-equipped with Messerschmitt Bf109Gs and during this period Drago flew thirty missions, with six combats.
On the morning of 9 June 1943, Tenente Drago shot down an American Spitfire off Pantelleria while flying a Bf109G (363-7). This was a Spitfire from 308th FS flown by 1st Lieutenant McMann.
Later in the day other pilots from 308th were sent out to search for the missing pilot (who was later rescued by an Allied craft). These aircraft intercepted a mixed force of an estimated 16-20 MC.202. In fact these were 14 Macchis of 151o Gruppo and four Bf109Gs of 150o.
The American pilots claimed four Macchis and one Bf109 without loss. Two Macchis were actually lost, both the Gruppo Commander Capitano Bruno Veronesi and Sottotenente Antonio Crabbia bailed out safely, as did the Messerschmitt pilot, Tenente Drago, who just claimed a second Spitfire shot down. Tenente Giovanni Chiale claimed a third Spitfire.
This was the only time during his career that Drago was shot down and some fishermen from Pantelleria rescued him from the sea.
All three downed Italian pilots were later flown back to Palermo aboard an SM.81 only hours before the besieged island surrendered.
Back in Sicily, he and the rest of the 150o Gruppo by early July were forced to retreat to Italy with no operational aircraft left, all destroyed or damaged beyond repair on Sciacca airfield by the continuous Allied air bombardments.
After an adventurous attempt to put at least a section of 363a Squadriglia back in action in early September 1943, the Armistice was signed.
In the confusing days that followed Drago, after having ensured the safety of his men, tried to reach his home, but was arrested by German troops in Ferrara and brought to a concentration camp near Bologna. There, after Drago's refusal to join the Luftwaffe, he was put with many others on a train headed to the prison camps in Germany. He and others however, luckily managed to escape by jumping off the train just short of the Italian border.
After hiding for sometime, only after hearing the call to arms by Colonello Ernesto Botto and the forming of the A.N.R., Drago presented himself to the Italian military authorities. He was soon appointed C.O. of 1a Squadriglia of the newly formed IIa Gruppo Caccia and from May 1944 to April 1945 he was back in action, flying 81 missions with 33 combats and claiming 11 more aerial victories.
The unit was at first equipped with Fiat G.55s for a short period before converting to the Bf109G.
His great leadership was proved by the loss in action of only two pilots of his Squadriglia during the June 1944 to March 1945 period. This was acknowledged by the A.N.R. with the advancement to the rank of Capitano on 7 November 1944 and by the Germans with the award of the Ritterkreuz 1st class on 6 April 1945.
At noon on 16 November 1944 he led eight Bf109Gs from 1a Squadriglia off from Aviano. In the air they noticed small groups of B-17s escorted by P-51s returning from a raid in Germany. Half an hour after take-off, at 24,000 feet, they intercepted a B-17 escorted by P-51s of the 332nd FG. The Italian fighters engaged the P-51s and Drago and Tenente Renato Mingozzi each claimed a P-51s shot down. Sergente Maggiore Guido Minardi claimed a B-17. The combat lasted some 10 minutes and ended down on the deck.
On 1 February 1945 the Italian units were renumbered to conform to the German system and 1a Squadriglia thus became 4a Squadriglia.
At 10.30 on 3 March 1945 twenty-two Bf109s of 2o Gruppo scrambled from Aviano and Osoppo to intercept Marauders from 12, 24 and 30 SAAF Squadrons, who were attacking the Conegliano marshalling yards. The Italian fighters intercepted at 10.41 near Pordenone. The combat was confusing and over the Adriatic Sea a section of aircraft led by Capitano Drago (Bf109G-10/AS/U4, Werk. Nr. 491353, 'Black 7') took on a group of six bombers. Sottotenente Felice Squassoni ('Black 13') and Tenente Valenzano (Bf109G-10/AS, Werk. Nr. 491323, 'Black 3') each claimed a Marauder.
By 10.56 the Italians had been outdistanced over the sea and were back on the ground a quarter of an hour later.
The claims in this combat are very confusing. The Italians claimed 6 Marauders and 1 Spitfire. No Marauders were in fact lost (two were damaged) and the only loss for SAAF was Lieutenant Reim of the escorting 4 SAAF Squadron Spitfires, who were shot down. The SAAF pilots claimed 1 probable Bf109 and four damaged (two of the identified as Fw190s). The Italians lost two Bf109 (of which one was shot down a low altitude by German Panzers tragically killing the pilot) and got two damaged.
On 26 April 1945, when his unit was disbanded, he co-operated with the Partisan forces to maintain order in the area.
Drago ended the war with 4 biplane victories and a total of 17. These victories were claimed during 385 missions. 5 of his claims are with the Regia Aeronautica and 11 with the A.N.R. Please not that out of the latter eleven claims, those confirmed after a thorough research are only a handful, but it would not be fair to an outstanding pilot and Commander like Drago if we would not underline that the only the A.N.R. period has been subject to extensive researches, cross-checking between sources and the official documents of all the countries involved. Until this work will be done for the whole Second World War period concerning Italian claims, judging the ability of a pilot only by the number of his claims (confirmed or not yet checked), will be a futile exercise.
Drago was awarded a third Medaglia d'argento al Valor Militare and a second Croce di Guerra al Valore Militare before the Armisitce and a fourth Medaglia d'argento al Valor Militare while serving with the A.N.R.
Post-war he emigrated to Argentina and found employment as a flight instructor.
In 1953, he returned home to join the Italian Flagship Company "Alitalia", and flying the Boeing 747 operationally as Captain before his retirement.
Drago passed away in Rome on 22 April 2007.
Claims:
| Kill no. | Date | Time | Number | Type | Result | Plane type | Serial no. | Locality | Unit |
| 1940 | |||||||||
| 1 | 02/11/40 | 1 | P.Z.L. P.24 | Destroyed | Fiat CR.42 | near Salonika | 363a Squadriglia | ||
| 2 | 14/11/40 | 1 | P.Z.L. P.24 | Destroyed (a) | Fiat CR.42 | Koritza | 363a Squadriglia | ||
| 3 | 14/11/40 | 1 | P.Z.L. P.24 | Destroyed (a) | Fiat CR.42 | Koritza | 363a Squadriglia | ||
| 14/11/40 | 1/4 | P.Z.L. P.24 | Shared destroyed (a) | Fiat CR.42 | Koritza | 363a Squadriglia | |||
| 14/11/40 | 1/4 | P.Z.L. P.24 | Shared destroyed (a) | Fiat CR.42 | Koritza | 363a Squadriglia | |||
| 14/11/40 | 1/4 | P.Z.L. P.24 | Shared destroyed (a) | Fiat CR.42 | Koritza | 363a Squadriglia | |||
| 18/12/40 | 1 | Enemy aircraft (b) | Destroyed | Fiat CR.42 | 363a Squadriglia | ||||
| 1941 | |||||||||
| 4 | 13/02/41 | 1 | Fairey Battle (c) | Destroyed | Fiat CR.42 | Argyrokastron valley | 363a Squadriglia | ||
| 1943 | |||||||||
| 5 | 09/06/43 | 1 | Spitfire (d) | Destroyed | Bf109G | 363-7 | off Pantelleria | 363a Squadriglia | |
| 6 | 09/06/43 | 1 | Spitfire (e) | Destroyed | Bf109G | 363-7 | off Pantelleria | 363a Squadriglia | |
| 1944 | |||||||||
| 7 | 24/06/44 | 1 | P-47 (f) | Destroyed | Bf109G | south of Ovada | 1a Squadriglia | ||
| 8 | 14/07/44 | 1 | B-25 (g) | Destroyed | Bf109G | 1a Squadriglia | |||
| 9 | 20/07/44 | 1 | B-24 (h) | Destroyed | Bf109G | Udine-Aviano | 1a Squadriglia | ||
| 10 | 21/07/44 | 1 | B-24 (i) | Destroyed | Bf109G | Pola | 1a Squadriglia | ||
| 11 | 26/07/44 | 1 | P-47 (j) | Destroyed | Bf109G | south off Piacenza | 1a Squadriglia | ||
| 12 | 16/11/44 | 1 | P-51 (k) | Destroyed | Bf109G | Aviano area | 1a Squadriglia | ||
| 13 | 26/12/44 | 1 | P-51 (l) | Destroyed | Bf109G | 1a Squadriglia | |||
| 1945 | |||||||||
| 14 | 06/02/45 | 1 | P-47 (m) | Destroyed | Bf109G | 4a Squadriglia | |||
| 15 | 12/02/45 | 1 | B-25 (n) | Destroyed | Bf109G | Legnago | 4a Squadriglia | ||
| 16 | 12/03/45 | 1 | F-5E (o) | Destroyed | Bf109G | north of Padua | 4a Squadriglia | ||
| 17 | 23/03/45 | 1 | P-47 (p) | Destroyed | Bf109G | Campoformido | 4a Squadriglia |
Biplane victories: 4 and 3 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 17 and 3 shared destroyed.
(a) Claimed in combat with PZL P.24s from 23 Mira. Italian fighters claimed eight P.24s over Koritza during the day while losing two aircraft and getting a third damaged. 23 Mira claimed eight CR.42s. A number of PZLs may have been damaged, and some possibly shot down but no Greek pilots were killed or wounded during this engagement.
(b) Not official credited to him and therefore not included in his total.
(c) Greek Fairey Battle lost over Trebeshinj.
(d) Spitfire from 308th FS shot down. 1st Lieutenant McMann later saved.
(e) Claimed in combat with Spitfires from 308th FS. Two Spitfires were claimed while losing one MC.202 and one Bf109. 308th FS claimed four MC.202s and one Bf109 without suffering any losses.
(f) Claimed in combat with Groupe de Chasse II/5 "Lafayette". A.N.R. claimed two P-47s but none were lost during this combat.
(g) Claimed in combat with 340th BG. A.N.R. claimed two B-25s but none were lost during this combat.
(h) Claimed in combat with 485th BG. A.N.R. claimed one B-24 and four damaged but 485th BG lost two B-24s during this combat.
(i) Claimed in combat with 455th BG. This claim is confirmed with USAAF sources.
(j) Claimed in combat with 86th FG. During this combat, A.N.R. claimed three P-47s but none were lost and USAAF claimed six Bf109s but only one was lost.
(k) Claimed in combat with 332nd FG. This claim is not confirmed with USAAF sources.
(l) Claimed in combat with 3 Sqn RAAF. 1 P-51 shot down by Tenente Keller. Drago's claim is not confirmed.
(m) Claimed in combat with 522 FS, 27th FG. During this combat, A.N.R. claimed two P-47s but none were lost (however they were both badly damaged) and USAAF claimed three Bf109s but only one was lost.
(n) Claimed in combat with 310th BG. The B-25 only badly damaged and Drago was forced to abandon the attack after his aircraft was hit.
(o) Claimed in combat with 32nd PRS at 12.43. F-5E flown by Lieutenant Clyde T. Allen only damaged.
(p) Claimed in combat with 85th FS, 79th FG at 09.25. A.N.R. claimed two and one probable P-47s but only one was lost. It seems that this P-47 flown by 2nd Lieutenant Jack Faires, who parachuted safely, was shot down by Drago.
Sources:
Most information kindly provided by Ferdinando D'Amico
Additional information from:
Air war for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete - Christopher Shores, Brian Cull and Nicola Malizia, 1987 Grub Street, London, ISBN 0-948817-07-0
Air War Italy 1944-45 - Nick Beale, Ferdinando D'Amico and Gabriele Valentini, 1996 Airlife Publishing, Shrewbury, ISBN 1-85310-252-0
Italian Aces of World War 2 - Giovanni Massimello and Giorgio Apostolo, 2000 Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ISBN 1-84176-078-1
Spitfires over Sicily – Brian Cull with Nicola Malizia and Frederick Galea, 2000 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-32-2
Additional information kindly provided by Michele Palermo, Manlio Palmieri and Ludovico Slongo.
