His confirmed victory total ranked him fourth among Italian aces of the war.

As World War I heated up, he was assigned to the Italian Army's 3rd Engineer Battalion.

[2][3][4] However, Baracchini had no success as a fighter pilot until May 1917, when he was assigned to the newly formed 81a Squadriglia.

[3] His claim of the 15th went unconfirmed, but he got his first victory five days later when he shot down an Albatros south of Marco.

For this extraordinary display of prowess, Flavio Baracchini became the first Italian fighter pilot to win the Gold Medal for Military Valor.

[2] He began his final month of combat with a double victory on 15 June, with a third claim going unconfirmed.

His first invention was a signalling device for communicating with aeroplanes, which was adopted by Italian aviators.