Guido KELLER: who was this fellow.
Ciao Ladies and Gentlemen,
I noticed that there is little known about Italian pilots over here at the Forum, so I would like to contribute with a short story about one of them.
Guido Keller is quite a character among the Pantheon of Italian WWI Aces. Born in Milan in 1892 to an aristocratic family of Helvetic heritage, since he was a child he proved to be impatient about conventionalities insomuch that when he was in his teens he was ejected from Trotzen College in Switzerland.
It was during his frequent hikes with his family that he fell in love with flight as he used to contemplate the eagles flying so, in Autumn 1914 flying on early Blériots, he earned his wings in Turin joining the Civil Aviator Battalion.
As the war broke out for Italy, he was appointed lieutenant and assigned to 3a Squadriglia in Verona flying on SAML/Aviatiks B.I. with mainly interceptor duties.
One evening, during a bombing alarm, he was flying over Desenzano when suddenly he was furiously shot at by an incoming plane. It was with great disappointment that Keller noticed that it was an Italian hydro-fighter shooting at his plane. Unwilling to return fire against that brashy comrade, Keller put into effect all of his repertory of evasive maneuvers managing to return back home with his plane almost crippled. He was furious with that "silly" pilot but he did never officially report back this episode with his HQ nor he never swanked to having saved that pilot’s life having Keller avoided to shot the slower hydro-fighter down in order to save himself.
Soon his flying ability and tactical aptitude were noticed and in 1916 Guido was allowed to train on fighters and he quickly qualified on Nieuport 10 and 11 then reassigned to 80a and consecutively to 77a Squadriglia da Caccia.
It was during his stay on these squadriglie that most of the famous Italian pilots learned to know Keller, his comradeship and valiant skills.
Guido Keller was one of the first disciples of the doctrine of naturism and the yogi movement so he used to walk around the base all naked but his officer cap with his tamed eagle on his shoulder. He also used to live into a cave on the airfield limits or spent most of his leisure time perched on trees reading classical or philosophical books. But he also was well known by the village maidens as he used to take naked baths in the Sile river.
With his black mane and goatee he was the Sundays’ main attraction as the local priest noticed by the decreased maidens’ attendance at the weekly Mass.
But Keller was also a great pilot. Before every flight, he used to maniacally check every part of his machine as he used to say “Once the plane is ready to take off, I will take care to stay up there”.
His flight suit was, usually, a grey pajama worn under his aviator coat; instead of the prescribed headgear he used a Bersaglieri fez that, along with the goggles, gave him a distinctive look.
On his plane, he used to carry a fine china tea service as well as biscuits and bouquets. A real skull fixed above the fuel gauge fulfilled his flight equipment.
It was not unusual for Keller to read books while on air as he used to carry a book on board fixed with a string to an eyelet into the cockpit. Often his after action reports begun with the words “I was reading [insert book title] when suddenly … “
Late on Spring 1917, at dawn, Guido Keller took off from his base heading towards the not so far Austrian airfield. Once over the enemy camp, he suddenly dived launching an object on the ground. As soon as the scared Austrian servicemen recovered from fear they noticed that the object was a metal case with tricolore ribbons. Inside the case there was, wrote in epic and chivalric words, a sort of Medieval Challenge. The Austrian pilots had to chose one of them in order to challenge the Italian Knight (Keller himself) to a mock duel: without shooting a single bullet, the winner would have been the one who tailed the opponent. All the Austrian planes had to take off in order to give the duel the needed epic frame.
The Austrians did accept and a few days later the duel took place. Needless to say Guido Keller was the winner and all the Austrian planes escorted the lone knight towards the Italian lines.
Keller was also a fine engineer. He was the one who designed the airfield of Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo, an emergency airfield at 1,000 meters of altitude to be used when fog avoided landing in safe conditions on Verona airfield. The emergency airfield, under Keller supervision, was equipped with hangars and barracks and even with small lakes, fountains and heliotherapy room.
Such a character could not evade Francesco Baracca’s attention who, along with Piccio (former commander of Keller when at 77a Squadriglia), wanted Guido Keller in his 91a Squadriglia. On 1 November 1917 Keller entered the Top Aces Squadriglia where he served until the end of the war.
It was in one cold night of February 1918 that Keller gave the 91a its distinctive Gryphon marking.
It happened that Major Baracca and his pilots were having a dinner in one small restaurant in the surroundings of Padova. Il Maggiore was talking about a mark to be painted on the fuselage of all the planes in order to give a tenacity impression and an inspiration to the Italian soldiers on the battleground when overflown by their own planes. Guido took word and explained the mythological figure with its lion body and eagle head as the perfect fusion between the dominant animal on earth and the dominant animal in the sky. Of course everybody enthusiastically agreed on that and the Gryphon was adopted as official 91a Squadriglia coat of arms.
During his war career, Keller earned three Silver Medals for Military Valor and shot down seven enemy planes and one ballon although he was only credited with three. He simply did not care about numbers and a few times he ‘donated’ his victory, and often his salary, to other pilots.
He also was a true Knight of the Air as he always broke off the fight as soon as the enemy, badly damaged, did retreat towards his lines. Keller’s main goal was disabling the machine rather than killing the man.
On 29th October, 1918, during a trench strafing mission his Spad was damaged to the point that he could not make it back home. He was also badly wounded on the right thigh and forced to crash land behind enemy lines. Aware of the ordinary fate for pilots being captured after a strafing mission he gambled his last dido.
As soon as the enemy soldiers were approaching he shouted at them, in perfect German and with not so polite words, to present arms and salute being himself an officer. The astonished soldiers stopped their mob and did as he ordered. Then Keller intimated them to build a stretcher and to bring him rapidly to the nearest field hospital.
In the frantic days of the Battle for Vittorio Veneto he then managed to escape and return back to the 91a.
After the war, he followed Gabriele D’Annunzio in the Italian Regency of Carnaro adventure but this is another story.
This is Guido Keller, a poet, a follower of the Futurism Movement, a man of honor, a soldier, a pilot.
He died at 37 in a car accident as many other former aviators: ordinary life was too slow for them.
Keller’s personal marking was an Ace of Heart poker card style painted on the fuselage of his Ni.11 and then on his Spad VII.
As for sources, they mainly consist in two books in my possession:
- CALLEGARI, Renato: Il Fronte del Cielo. Guida all’Aviazione nel Veneto durante la Grande Guerra 1915-1918, Istituto per la Storia del Risorgimento Italiano – Comitato di Treviso, Comune di Istrana, Biblioteca Comunale di Istrana; Treviso, 2012.
- FERRARI, Atlantico: L’Asso di Cuori. Guido Keller, Cremonese Editore, Roma 1938 (Seconda Edizione).
I hope you enjoyed the read.
Ciao!
Mau.
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Originally Posted by 7eat51
Quite the character.
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