Flavio Baracchini was born in
Villafranca in Lunigiana on 28 July 1895. He was educated at technical schools in
La Spezia. As World War I heated up, he was assigned to the Italian Army's 3rd Engineer Battalion. However, in Autumn 1915, he reported to the SIT School in
Turin for pilot training. He was awarded licenses on 15 October and 1 December 1915; he then qualified on
Voisins on 27 January 1916. On 28 February 1916, he was posted to
7a Squadriglia (later redesignated
26a Squadriglia) and piloted a Voisin for them until 20 November 1916. In December 1916, he was
commissioned as a
Sottotenente. He also reported to Cascina Costa to train on
Nieuport fighters. However, Baracchini had no success as a fighter pilot until May 1917, when he was assigned to the newly formed
81a Squadriglia. Baracchini won twice in July. In August, he was credited with two more victories, on the 3rd and 8th, while his first claim for an observation balloon went unconfirmed. He was so seriously wounded in the left jaw on 8 August 1917 that he was out of action for nine months. Upon his return, he again had an unconfirmed credit on a balloon, on 3 April 1918. Then he was transferred back to
81a Squadriglia. He had four confirmed and four unconfirmed wins for May. He began his final month of combat with a double victory on 15 June, with a third claim going unconfirmed. On the 18th, he once again was denied credit for downing a balloon. On the 21st, he finally became a
balloon buster, for his nineteenth credit. He scored again on both the 22nd and the 25th, to bring his total to 21 confirmed and nine unconfirmed. However, on the 25th, he was again severely wounded, when he was shot down by machine gun fire. ==Post-war life==