Italo Balbo (1896 1940), Frammento aereo di Italo Balbo
Flask containing remains of Italo Balbo's body under formalin shot down by friendly fire in Tobruk on June 28, 1940. Accompanied by paper testimony and aerial fragment, Italo Balbo (1896 - 1940) was an Italian politician, general and aviator. A member of the National Fascist Party, he was one of the quadrumvirs of the march on Rome, later becoming commander general of the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale and undersecretary of the national economy. In 1929 he assumed the post of Minister of the Royal Air Force, in which he promoted and led several air cruises such as the transatlantic air cruise Italy-Brazil and the Tenth Anniversary air cruise. Considered a potential political rival of Benito Mussolini because of his great popularity, Balbo was appointed governor of Libya in 1934. At the outbreak of World War II he organized war flights to capture some UK vehicles, and on his return from one of these flights, on June 28, 1940, he was shot down by mistake by Italian anti-aircraft over Tobruch.