down two P-40 fighters and damaged a third. On 29 June, in Marsa Matruh area, along with three more 73ª Squadriglia Macchi C.202s, he attacked a formation of 12 P-40s, downing a Curtiss fighter (while his fellow pilots shot down two more). Martinoli's final kill in the North Africa theatre was over El Daba on 23 October 1942. Officially, this was identified as a Bell P-39 Airacobra but was more likely a Curtiss Kittyhawk from No. 260 Squadron RAF. Home Defence During the summer of 1943, he took part in the defence of Sicily and Italy. On 4 July, he claimed a P-38 Lightning and a shared Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress over Sicily. Aeronautica Co-Belligerante After the armistice of 8 September, he joined the Aeronautica Co-Belligerante (Co-Belligerent Air Force), fighting alongside the Allies. He flew, with other 4° Stormo pilots, sorties to Yugoslavia, attacking the German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. He shot down a Junkers Ju 52/3m over Podgorica, on 1 November 1943, after a dogfight with two Messerschmitt Bf 109s. It was his last air victory. He was killed in a flying accident on 25 August 1944, at Campo Vesuvio air base, while training on one of the second-hand Bell P-39s that had just been delivered to the Co-Belligerent Air Force. Awards Martinoli was posthumously awarded the Medaglia d'oro al Valor Militare (Gold Medal of Military Valor). He had been previously decorated with two silver medals and the German Iron Cross Second Class. Notes Bibliography "Caccia Assalto 3." Dimensione Cielo Aerei italiani nella 2° guerra mondiale (in Italian). Rome: Edizioni Bizzarri, 1972. Lioy, Vincenzo. Gloria senza allori (in Italian). Roma: Associazione Arma Aeronautica, 1953. Lazzati, Giulio. Ali nella tragedia (in Italian). Milano: Mursia, 1970. Lazzati, Giulio. I soliti Quattro gatti (in Italian). Milano: Mursia, 1965. Massimello, Giovanni and Giorgio Apostolo. Italian Aces of World War Two. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2000. . Neulen, Hans Werner. In the Skies of Europe. Ramsbury, Marlborough, UK: The Crowood Press, 2000. . Palermo, Michele, Eagles over Gazala - air battles on North Africa May–June 1942, Roma: IBN Editore, 2014. . Pesce, Giuseppe and Giovanni Massimello. Adriano Visconti Asso di guerra (in Italian). Parma: Albertelli editore s.r.l., 1997. Sgarlato, Nico. C.202 Lo chiamavano il Macchi (in Italian). Parma: Delta Editrice, 2008. Sgarlato, Nico. "Macchi Folgore" (in Italian). Aerei Nella Storia 1998 (8): 8-20. Parma, Italy: West-Ward sas. Shores, Christopher. Air Aces. Greenwich, CT: Bison Books, 1983.