Aldo Tait

Aldo Tait was a pioneer of the Italian air force who competed in the gliding exhibition at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In the 1930s he opened a gliding school at Belluno airport, which allowed his sister Elena to be one of the first women in Italy to obtain a flight certificate. Aldo Tait piloted for Duke Amedeo of Savoia and was the pilot of the DC-8 plane of the Alitalia flag carrier that brought Pope Paul VI to New York in October 1965.

On 11 March 1967 Tait was aboard a Twin Otter 100 twin-engined Aeralpi, which left Venezia for Cortina d’Ampezzo but crashed at the foot of Mount Visentin due to the fog, killing Tait and the two pilots with only one survivor. During his career Tait obtained two silver and one bronze medals for Military Valor, three Crosses, and a promotion for War Merit. He rests in Roma in the Air Force Memorial.