Italo Balbo
Italo Balbo was one of the four Fascist quadrumvirs who led the March on Rome in 1922, a pioneering aviator who organised record-breaking transatlantic mass flights in 1930 and 1933, and a charismatic rival whom Mussolini both admired and feared. As Air Marshal he built the Regia Aeronautica into one of Europe's most prestigious air forces. Appointed Governor-General of Libya in 1934 partly to remove him from Rome, he ran the colony with relative efficiency and opposed Italy's entry into the Second World War, predicting correctly that Italy's military was unprepared. He was killed on 28 June 1940 over Tobruk when Italian anti-aircraft guns, mistaking his aircraft for an enemy, shot it down — possibly an accident, possibly not.
- Lived: 1896 CE – 1940 CE
- Nationality: Italian
- Roles: aviator, general, colonial governor, politician
