In March 1917 De Briganti transferred to the 77th Squadron under the command of Pier Ruggero Piccio where, for having achieved aerial victories, he was decorated with a Silver Medal of Military Valor. Promoted to lieutenant, he served as a flight instructor from the summer of 1918 to the summer of 1919 at the Furbara airfield,[3] where he also trained American pilots.[2]
World War I ended in November 1918. Discharged from military service in 1919, De Briganti went to work at Macchi in Varese.[3] In 1920 he received a trophy at Monaco for setting an altitude record.[3] Flying a Macchi M.16, he won the Coppa Mapelli ("Mapelli Cup"), a competition for small touring aircraft, in both 1920 and 1921, retiring the trophy.[3] In 1921 he won the Lega ("League") Competition, the Lombardy Lakes Cruise, and the prestigious Schneider Cupseaplane race — held that year at Venice — flying a Macchi M.7bis at an average speed of 189.500 kilometres per hour (117.750 mph). In 1922 he won the Sesto San Giovanni aerobatics competition,[3] the Como Aviation Day, and the Deutsch Cup.[2]
From 1923 to 1924, De Briganti was director of the flying school for seaplanes at the Schiranna seaplane base, performing numerous delivery flights of aircraft to Spain.[3] In 1924 he won the Italian Cup, flying a Macchi M.24flying boat.[3] After the development of the Macchi M.33 racing flying boat in 1925, he participated in that year′s Schneider Cup race — held in the United States at Baltimore, Maryland — finishing in third place in an M.33 at an average speed of 278.269 kilometres per hour (172.908 mph).[3]
In 1926 De Briganti was employed as a test pilot by the Costruzioni Meccaniche Aeronautiche SA (CMASA) company of Marina di Pisa.[4] At CMASA, he oversaw the preparation of transoceanic flights and carried out load tests of the Dornier Do JWal ("Whale") twin-engine flying boat in 1930.[2] In 1931 he took part in the "Wing Day" in Rome, putting on brilliant aerobatic performances.[2]
On 26 February 1937, De Briganti piloted the prototype (MM.434) of the new Fiat G.50Freccia ("Arrow") fighter on its first flight.[5] He was killed on 8 November 1937 at the Pisa-San Giusto airfield while flying the second G.50 prototype (MM.435),[6] which crashed after he made a high-speed pass at very low altitude.[5]
Personal life
De Briganti married Alda Ramelli (1905–1947).[1] The couple had two sons, Guglielmo (1929–1973) and Andrea (1934–2017).[1]
The citation for De Briganti′s Silver Medal of Military Valor reads:
As an airplane pilot, assigned to a fightersquadron, he always has shown himself to be very skilled, indefatigable, and daring. He distinguished himself on numerous and distant reconnaissance missions, successfully completing them, despite the intense fire of anti-aircraftbatteries and the attacks of enemy fighter aircraft. On 19 August [1917], after a long and difficult struggle, an opponent's fighter aircraft fell near Voiscizza. Cielo di Adelberg, May 1917–Voiscizza, 19 August 1917.
Guido Guidi (1973). CMASA. Costruzioni Meccaniche Aeronautiche S.A. (in Italian). Rome: Ufficio Storico Stato Maggiore Aeronautica.
Luigi Mancini, ed. (1936). Grande Enciclopedia Aeronautica (in Italian). Milan: Edizioni Aeronautica.
Fernando Piccolo (ed.); Roberto Lancelotti; Elena Lancelotti (2015). ...Ai nostri padri. I quali elevandosi nello spazio dei cieli ebbero l'ala infranta (in Italian). Florence: Opera Nazionale per i Figli degli Aviatori. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
Piero Vergnano (1997). Fiat G.50. Milano: Giorgio Apostolo Editore.
Roberto Gentilli and Paolo Varriale, I Reparti dell'aviazione italiana nella Grande Guerra (in Italian), AM Ufficio Storico, 1999
