Giovanni Pappalardo was from Catania.

In March 1942, Sottotenente Pappalardo served in the 163^a Squadriglia, 161^o Gruppo CT. This unit was re-equipping with MC.200s and G.50s but also operated CR.42CNs for night-fighter missions in the Aegean.

At 00:25 on 15 March 1942, Sottotenente Pappalardo submitted a claim for a Wellington probably shot down during a raid on Rhodes.
No RAF losses were recorded on this night.

From Grottaglie on 13 January 1943, one MC.200 and seven G.50s from the 162^a Squadriglia, led by Capitano Rodolfo Guza, were scrambled at 15:30, to intercept 15 Liberators heading towards the ‘heel’ of the country. Tenente Pappalardo (in the MC.200) chased three B-24s off the coast and fired repeatedly at one of these, claiming damage to it. His MC.200 was damaged by return fire and ran out of fuel forcing him to crash-land.

Five B-24s from the 346th BS, 98th BG, raided the railway terminal at Messina in the afternoon on 30 January 1943.
MC.202s and MC.200s from the 164^a Squadriglia, 161^o Gruppo, were scrambled from Reggio Calabria to intercept, claiming two of these bombers shot down near Messina at 17:10. Tenente Pappalardo (MC.202) claimed one of these and the second shared with Sergente Maggiore Francesco Azzena (MC.200), Sergente Luigi Dondi (MC.200) and Maresciallo Giuseppe Ravasio (MC.200). Maresciallo Ravasio’s MC.200 was hit by return fire from the bombers. He baled out slightly wounded and was rescued from the sea.
Gunners aboard B-24D 41-11774/O piloted by Captain L. C. Holloway claimed damage to one fighter identified as a Bf 109 over Messina 16:20-16:22.

In the early afternoon on 18 June 1943, a B-17 was claimed as a shared north of Panarea Island by four MC.202s from the 161^o Gruppo. The claiming pilots were Tenente Vincenzo Furgiuele (163^a Squadriglia), Maresciallo Alfredo Forlini (163^a Squadriglia), Tenente Pappalardo (164^a Squadriglia) and Sergente Maggiore Virginio Stella (164^a Squadriglia). Sergente Umberto Canali (164^a Squadriglia) and Tenente Anotonio De Divitiis (164^a Squadriglia) from the same Gruppo claimed a shared four-engined aircraft over Messina.
The American raiders were 68 B-17s from the 97th, 99th and 301st BGs sunk the ferry Scilla (2,807 tons) at Messina and the gunners from the 99th BG claimed two Bf 109s and an MC.202 over Messina between 13:20 and 13:30. Two B-17s from 301st BG were damaged by Flak, while B-17F 41-24437 Thunderbird of the 341st BS, 97th BG flown by Lieutenant E. C. Wayman was hit by Flak over Messian crash-landed on Pantelleria with the crew safe. As they had lost height all alone, they had been attacked by a reported twelve Bf 109s. Wayman descended to sea level with Nos. 3 and 4 engines out. The attackers broke off but just as the B-17 was lining up to land at Pantelleria another seven German fighters attacked. Claims by the crew were made for three FW 190s and two Bf 109s destroyed, three Bf 109s as probables and one Bf 110 damaged.
A FW 190 A flown by Leutnant Bruno Schäfer from 9./SKG 10 had just dive-bombed Pantelleria mid-afternoon and on the way back, at low level, he claimed a B-17 at 16:45 at very low level just north-north-east of Pantelleria. Schäfer thought his victim ditched whereas it crash-landed on the island.
Tenente Angelo Zerelli (365^a Squadriglia) in a Bf 109 G from 150^o Gruppo failed to return and was declared MiA.

Pappalardo ended the war with 1 probable biplane victory and a total of 1.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1942
	15/03/42	00:25	1	Wellington (a)	Probably destroyed	Fiat CR.42		Rhodes	163a Squadriglia
	1943
	13/01/43	15:45	1	B-24	Damaged	MC.200		off Brindisi	162a Squadriglia
1	30/01/43	17:10	1	B-24 (b)	Destroyed	MC.202		nr Messina	164a Squadriglia
	30/01/43	17:10	1/4	B-24 (b)	Shared destroyed	MC.202		nr Messina	164a Squadriglia
	18/06/43	13:30-16:30	1/4	B-17 (c)	Shared destroyed	MC.202		N Panarea Island	164a Squadriglia

Biplane victories: 1 probably destroyed.
TOTAL: 1 and 2 shared destroyed, 1 probably destroyed, 1 damaged.
(a) Can’t be verified with any Allied losses.
(b) Claimed in combat with B-24s from 346th BS, 98th BG, which claimed 1 damaged Bf 109s without losses. 164^a Squadriglia claimed 2 B-24s destroyed while losing 1 MC.200 (pilot safe).
(c) Claimed in combat with B-17s from 99th BG which claimed 2 Bf 109s and 1 MC.202 without losses while the 97th BG claimed 3 FW 190s, 2 Bf 109s, 3 probable Bf 109s and 1 probable Bf 110 while losing 1 B-17 (crew safe). Regia Aeronautica and Luftwaffe claimed 3 B-17s while losing 1 Bf 109.

Sources:
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
History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945: Volume Four – Christopher Shores and Giovanni Massimello with Russell Guest, Frank Olynyk, Winfried Bock and Wg Cdr Andy Thomas, 2018 Grub Street, London, ISBN-13: 9781911621102
Elenco Nominativo dei Militari dell’ A. M. Decorati al V. M. Durante it Periodo 1929 - 1945 1 Volume A - L