Riccardo Moizo (22 August 1877 – 27 February 1962) was an Italian aviation pioneer in the early part of the 20th century (in which he was one of the founders of the Regia Aeronautica) and a general during World War II.

[1][2][3][4][5] While in Turin he developed an interest in the world of aviation; attracted by the novelty of the aircraft, he attended a piloting course, being assigned to the Specialists Engineers Battalion on November 17, 1910.

He participated in the air operations from the beginning of the war, being repatriated on May 7, 1912, but due to the lack of pilots on August 12 he was again sent to Libya, where he was assigned to the Zuwarah airfield, located about 100 km from Tripoli.

After some missions in which his plane had been plagued by mechanical problems, he was ordered to return to Tripoli and on the morning of 10 September 1912 he took off with his Nieuport, but due to an engine breakdown he was forced to crash land in enemy-controlled territory, being captured by Arab irregulars and taken to El Hascian.

[1][2][3][4][5] In July 1914, while serving in Rome at the Army General Staff, he was placed at the disposal of the Ministry of the Colonies and assigned to the command of the troops of Tripolitania.

In March 1915 he was repatriated and reassigned to the General Staff; after the entry of the Kingdom of Italy in the First World War, on 24 May 1915, he was attached to the Supreme Command as aeronautical consultant.

From 1 April 1918 he assumed the post of Chief of Staff of the 15th Division, and on 27 October he was seriously wounded in the head on Monte Pertica, in the Mount Grappa massif, being awarded a second Silver Medal for military valor.

He was then detained in the prisons of Verona, Venice and Brescia and tried by the Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State with the accusation of having favored the disbandment of the Italian troops in the province of Ljubljana after the armistice, but was acquitted and released on 6 October 1944.

[3][4][5] He subsequently made contact with the National Liberation Committee through General Raffaele Cadorna, but the end of the Second World War came before he could have any employment within the CLN.