1940 Ala Littoria Savoia-Marchetti S.M.75 I-LEAL crash
Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 Marsupiale · Accident
From Brindisi Airport (BDS) to Rome Airport
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 10 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 10
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 Marsupiale
- Aircraft type
- Savoia Marchetti SM-75
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- I-LEAL
- Operator
- Ala Littoria
- Onboard fatalities
- 10
- Route
- From Brindisi Airport (BDS)To Rome Airport
Approximate · Estimated position: Aiello Calabro, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
On 10 February 1940, a Savoia-Marchetti S.M.75 passenger aircraft (I-LEAL), controlled by the Italian airline Ala Littoria, crashed at Aiello Calabro; all eight people on board were killed.
The accident
The aircraft was employed on the Rhodes-Brindisi-Rome route. At 12:45 on 10 February 1940 the Savoia-Marchetti S.M.75 (I-LEAL) belonging to the Ala Littoria company took off from Brindisi-Casale airport bound for Rome.
Because of adverse weather conditions the first pilot, Angelo Negri, made a diversion towards Calabria. On board the aircraft were four passengers: Senator of the Kingdom Alfredo Dentice di Frasso, the accountant Edoardo Alcozer, personnel director of Ala Littoria, second lieutenant Girolamo Casazza and commander Guido Zacchetti. The other crew members were the second pilot Basile Valassiedes, the flight engineer Pietro Clerici, and the radio-telegraphist Gino Zoia.
Along the route the aircraft ran into a violent storm and because of this, and of the ice that had formed on the wings, it struck a mountainous elevation at Aiello Calabro, south-west of Cosenza, killing all the occupants.
The first news of the accident appeared in the daily La Stampa on Tuesday 14 February, but after that the newspapers no longer spoke of the accident.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Italian Wikipedia article “Incidente del Savoia-Marchetti S.M.75 I-LEAL dell'Ala Littoria del 1940” (revision 144355473, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
Italian Wikipedia article: Incidente del Savoia-Marchetti S.M.75 I-LEAL dell'Ala Littoria del 1940
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 144355473 · 2025-04-04 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q110460396
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- it Wikipedia article "Incidente del Savoia-Marchetti S.M.75 I-LEAL dell'Ala Littoria del 1940" (page 9068888, revision 144355473), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia article: the date in its opening sentence (the infobox gives none to the day)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator is an airline according to Wikidata
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Italian Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.