From the beginning of 1917 he was assigned to the 43rd Squadron, supporting the artillery of the 5th Group of the Third Army, equipped with Caudron G.3 aircraft; on 12 and 18 March 1917 he carried out two risky reconnaissance missions over Gorjansko and Kobjeglava.

On 4 December of the same year he was replaced by General Aurelio Liotta as commander-in-chief of the Regia Aeronautica in East Africa, and repatriated, returning to his office as Deputy Chief of Staff.

[1][3][2] In 1939 he became Grand Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, and in December of the same year he returned again to Italian East Africa as commander of the air forces present in that theatre, replacing General Gennaro Tedeschini Lalli.

[1][3][2] On June 10, 1940, Italy entered World War II, and Pinna Parpaglia commanded the forces of the Regia Aeronautica of the Empire during the subsequent East African campaign.

With these meager forces, Pinna was tasked with the air defence of an area six times the size of the Italian homeland, as well as with conducting offensive operations against British airfields, ports and naval units at sea.

[4][5][1][2] By the spring of 1941, Pinna's forces had been effectively annihilated; in April he left Addis Ababa and followed the Duke of Aosta to the mountain redoubt of Amba Alagi, where his remaining men fought as infantry.

During 1949 he was recalled to military service as Director General of Civil Aviation and Air Traffic and, in 1953, he became Councilor of State until 1961, when he retired with the rank of President of jurisdictional section.