Livorno, November 9, 1971. The Cold War is in full swing. Italy holds a strategic position within the NATO alignment, and the Brigata Paracadutisti “Folgore” is one of the Esercito Italiano’s principal rapid-response components.
Folgore training is intense. That morning, the paratroopers are bound for Sardinia, departing from Pisa-San Giusto Airport to take part in the international “Cold Stream” exercise.
The operation involves 396 paratroopers and a formation of ten British aircraft. It is a highly complex training activity designed to test airborne insertion procedures and coordination among units.
The experience gained during the Second World War had highlighted the difficulties of mass airborne drops, both during aircraft exits and in the subsequent reorganization of units on the ground.
The Cold Stream exercise aims to refine tactical flying and airborne insertion techniques, including through the CARP (Calculated Air Release Point) procedure, used to determine the paratroopers’ release point according to the landing zone. The objective is to enable units to operate as an integrated force and reduce the time required to reorganize after the drop.
The procedure required precise coordination between the aircraft: as the paratroopers from the preceding aircraft completed their exit, the following aircraft had to arrive over the drop zone to ensure continuity of the airborne operation.
The mission calls for a low-level tactical flight, climbing to the prescribed altitude only near the drop zone before descending again for the return leg.
In the still-dark sky, a formation of nine Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft and one Hawker Siddeley Andover, all from the British Royal Air Force, prepares for takeoff.
On board are Folgore’s young paratroopers, many of them barely 20 years old.
It is still night. Dawn has not yet reached the Tuscan coast when the Cold Stream operation begins.
A few minutes after takeoff, a tragedy destined to forever mark Folgore’s history will unfold in the waters off Livorno.
The Secche della Meloria, a few miles off the Livorno coast, become the site of one of the most serious Italian Armed Forces disasters of the postwar period.
The ten aircraft, departing from the Pisa-San Giusto military airfield and bound for the Villacidro drop zone in Sardinia, were assigned call signs from the “Gesso” series. One of them would never reach its destination.
It was “Gesso 4.”
The crash claimed the lives of six British airmen and 46 Italian paratroopers from the 6ª Compagnia “Draghi” del II Battaglione Paracadutisti “Tarquinia”. The designation “Grifi,” often used in subsequent accounts, would not be adopted until 1972.
The accident
The first to take off, at 4:55, was the Andover ("Gesso 1"), equipped with the equipment required to calculate the CARP in flight.
At 7:00 a.m., over the Villacidro drop zone in Sardinia, the ten paratroopers of the Battaglione Sabotatori jumped from the Andover and prepared to mark and secure the area pending the arrival of the C-130s carrying Folgore units.
"Gesso 2," the first of the nine C-130s, lifted off from Pisa runway at 5:41 carrying the legendary Generale Ferruccio Brandi, who, as a very young lieutenant, had been awarded the Gold Medal after returning from El Alamein and had been Comandante della Folgore since 1969, along with another 43 paratroopers of the 1º Reggimento.
Brandi turned 51 that very day. The C-130s took off at close intervals; “Gesso 9” and “Gesso 10”, however, were delayed from the original formation.
Gesso 4 does not respond
A few minutes after takeoff, the crew of “Gesso 5,” following “Gesso 4,” spotted a sudden flash over the sea. On board the missing aircraft were 44 paratroopers from the 6ª Compagnia “Draghi” and two jumpmasters from the Compagnia Comando of the II Battaglione “Tarquinia.”
The crew informs the formation commander, Lieutenant Colonel Scott, who immediately attempts to establish radio contact with the aircraft in flight. All respond except one: “Gesso 4 is not responding”.
Scott alerts the base and, aboard “Gesso 8”, heads toward the presumed impact site, while the other aircraft continue toward Sardinia.
In the crash, six British airmen and 46 Italian paratroopers of the 6ª Compagnia “Draghi” del II Battaglione Paracadutisti “Tarquinia” lose their lives. The designation “Grifi,” often used in subsequent accounts, would only be adopted in 1972.
A large fuel slick is spotted on the water; paratroopers’ rucksacks, aircraft parts, and empty life rafts are found floating.
General Brandi is informed of the incident after his own jump and immediately returns to Livorno.
The task of officially informing the families of the Fallen is entrusted to Major Dario Orrù, director of the operations room at Comando della Folgore.
The cause of the accident
After the tragedy, a board of inquiry is established to determine the causes of the aircraft’s crash. The investigation can only proceed in depth after the wreckage is recovered.
No emergency communication is received from “Gesso 4”. Despite the recovery of substantial parts of the aircraft, carried out with the assistance of a pontoon from the Arsenale della Marina Militare di La Spezia, the board is unable to determine the cause of the accident with certainty.
One of the hypotheses put forward based on the position of the wreckage is that, having realized the extremely low altitude, the crew attempted to pull up and the tail struck the sea surface, causing it to break apart. This remains a hypothesis, however, not an established conclusion.
The Fallen:
- 2nd Lt. Paratrooper P.M. Magnaghi,
- 2nd Lt. Paratrooper E. Borghesan,
- Master Sgt. Paratrooper G. Augello
- Sergeant Major Paratrooper C. Celozzi
- Corporal Major Paratrooper C. Colombini
- Corporal Paratrooper M. Benericetti
- Corporal Paratrooper S. Bolzoni
- Corporal Paratrooper A. Fiumara
- Corporal Paratrooper G. Ianni
- Corporal Paratrooper P. Interrante
- Corporal Paratrooper S. Licori
- Corporal Paratrooper F. Vantaggiato
- Paratrooper L. Angelini
- Paratrooper E. Carta
- Paratrooper A. Ciappellano
- Paratrooper M. Carasi
- Paratrooper A. Deiana
- Paratrooper V. De Marco
- Paratrooper L. Dal Lago
- Paratrooper U. De Mitri
- Paratrooper P. Dessi
- Paratrooper P. Donnarumma
- Paratrooper D. Dal Zotto
- Paratrooper A. De Vito
- Paratrooper A. D'Alessandro
- Paratrooper G. D'Alessandro
- Paratrooper G. Di Natale
- Paratrooper F. Dall'Asta
- Paratrooper M. Ferrari
- Paratrooper G. Facchetti
- Paratrooper C. Frasson
- Paratrooper S. Fumosa
- Paratrooper W. Furgeri
- Paratrooper R. Fracassetti
- Paratrooper R. Giannattasio
- Paratrooper G. Giannini
- Paratrooper B. Guidorzi
- Paratrooper G. Guarnieri
- Paratrooper A. Ginex
- Paratrooper A. Gilioli
- Paratrooper R. Liuzzi
- Paratrooper D. Matelli
- Paratrooper R. Morganti
- Paratrooper E. Quarti
- Paratrooper S. Sabatini
- Paratrooper L. Torsello
British crew:
- FLT./LT. C.G. Harrison
- FG.OFF. R. Swann Proce
- FG.OFF M. Fawcett
- F./SGT. B.D. King
- SGT. R.R. Lee
- SGT.P. Fulford
Recovery of the bodies
The “Alto Tirreno” Maritime Military Department of the Italian Navy launched the search using naval units and aircraft. Sea conditions and uncertainty over the exact crash site made the initial operations particularly difficult.
By cross-referencing the accounts of two observers on shore with the Meloria lighthouse bearings, Majors Dario Orrù and Antonio Milani identified a more likely search area. On November 14, Squadron Admiral Giuseppe Roselli Lorenzini, Chief of Staff of the Navy, met with Orrù to review the information gathered.
The point indicated by Orrù is close to the one reported by the pilot and navigator of “Gesso 5”. The minesweepers Faggio and Ontano are operating in the area: on 15 novembre, it is the Ontano that locates the wreckage of “Gesso 4”, at a depth of about 50 meters.
Recovery operations begin on 17 novembre, coordinated by the Marina Militare with the raider support ship Pietro Cavezzale and with contributions from the Carabinieri, Polizia di Stato, and personnel from the Battaglione Sabotatori Paracadutisti. A British ship subsequently joins the effort. Recovering the remains and bodies proves lengthy and complex.
Identifications are also made through the serial numbers of the parachutes and issued weapons. On 18 novembre 1971, during a dive on the wreckage, Sergente Maggiore Giannino Caria, a paratrooper-saboteur who had volunteered for the recovery operations, loses his life. For his sacrifice, he is awarded the Medaglia d’Oro al Valor Civile, with the following citation:
With a profound sense of generous solidarity and bold determination, he volunteered to take part in the difficult recovery operations to retrieve the bodies of his fellow servicemen, trapped on the seabed inside the wreckage of an aircraft that had sunk in tragic circumstances. Despite the violent adversity of the natural elements, he did not desist from carrying out repeated, hazardous dives, until he fell victim to his own indomitable courage, sacrificing his young life and thus binding his fate to that of his fallen comrades. A noble example of complete devotion to duty and supreme selflessness.
Largo della Meloria, Livorno, 18 novembre 1971
In the crash, six British airmen and 46 Italian paratroopers belonging to the 6ª Compagnia “Draghi” del II Battaglione Paracadutisti “Tarquinia” lose their lives. The designation “Grifi”, often used in subsequent accounts, would not be adopted until 1972.
Despite the prolonged operations, not all the bodies were recovered. The tragedy and the rescuers’ long effort remain an inseparable part of the memory of the Meloria.
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