Lupo Rattazzi presents the twin jet of Mattei and dismantles, with technical data, the hypothesis of the attack never tried to Volandia
For many Italians, the death of Enrico Mattei It is the result of an attack orchestrated by strong powers: the president of Eni died on October 27, 1962 when his plane fell near Bascapè, just before landing in Milan Linate. A tragedy that, given the character involved, aroused many doubts and was immediately attributed – without definitive evidence – to an alleged sabotage wanted by the large international oil companies, the so -called “Seven sisters”then bitter enemies of independent energy policy promoted by Mattei.
Technical reconstruction and twin plane
Yet, more than sixty years later, there is no judicial, technical or scientific evidence that confirms the hypothesis of the attack. He reiterated him strongly on Saturday 17 May Lupo Rattazzientrepreneur, founder of Air Europe, vice president of Neos but above all an expert pilot, during a conference held at the museum Flyingnear Malpensa. Theme of the meeting: the presentation of the twin jet of the plane on which Mattei flew, the Morane-Saulnier MS-760 Paris I-Snaprestored with the original colors and recovered by Rattazzi himself together with a precious technical documentation. The aircraft was donated to the museum with the intention of preserving a verifiable historical memory and contrasting the wave of conspiracy theories that for decades have fueled unfounded doubts.
During the event, Rattazzi meticulously reconstructed the last hours of the flight, remembering that a strong storm raged on Milan 1962. The Morane-Saulnier Paris, who left Catania and headed for Linate, crashed into Bascapè. On board, in addition to Mattei, there were the pilot Irnerio Bertuzzi and the American journalist William MCHALE: nobody survived. The plane, originally conceived as a military trainer and only subsequently reconverted for civil use, was not particularly suitable for night flights in adverse weather conditions.
The official investigations, carried out between 1963 and 1966 by two distinct bodies – the Technical Commission of Ministry of Defense and the Public Prosecutor of Pavia – They came to superimposable conclusions: no sign of sabotage or explosion, but rather an accident due to the loss of control of the aircraft in flight. The technical investigation ascertained that the jet had fallen intact, without traces of devices, and underlined the need to introduce greater checks for the civil aviation drivers, especially for the instrumental flight. For its part, the criminal investigation, closed in 1966, also highlighted elements related to the possible tiredness of the pilot and the complexity of the flight in critical conditions. The deputy prosecutor Edgardo SantachiaraIn asking for storage, he spoke of “certain and absolute proof” of the absence of criminal hypotheses.
From conspiracy theories to judicial archives
Despite this, the idea of the attack continued to circulate. On July 27, 1993, the repentant of the mafia Gaetano Iannì He declared to the prosecutor of Caltanissetta that a bomb had been placed on the plane following an alleged agreement between Cosa Nostra and US environments. His statements reopened the case in 1994, but most of the wreck had now disappeared and many of the protagonists of the first investigations were no longer alive. The public prosecutor Vincenzo CaliaHe investigated discrepancies in the testimonies and on the possibility that a small explosive charge, placed in Catania, had inhibited the functioning of the trolley, leading to the accident.
However, subsequent investigations did not lead to concrete elements. As Rattazzi recalled in his conference, the bomb theory connected to the organs of the cart appears weak and not very plausible, especially in the absence of physical explosive traces and without any evidence of the presence of a second Jet Eni in Catania, which would have been necessary for the maneuver. Even the weather conditions, considered “discrete” by some to strengthen the hypothesis of the attack, were actually very difficultas evidenced by multiple sources of the time.
In 2003 the Prosecutor’s Office requested a new storage. The investigating judge Fabio LambertucciIn ordering it, it was clear: not only were there no evidence of the authors of a possible crime, but it was absent “any sufficient proof” that a crime had actually been committed. Despite this, the narrative of the conspiracy continues to exercise charm: because, as Rattazzi himself has noticed, the suspicion of a murder excites public opinion, especially when the victim is a figure of power.
Today, thanks to the exhibition set up in Volandia, visitors can observe closelytwin plane and deepen, through verifiable documents and data, what really happened on that autumn night of 1962. An important lesson, according to Rattazzi, against the spread of simplifications and presumed truths: why History, like flight, needs precise tools.
