Il suo social si chiama Truth (tradotto, verità). Ai cittadini americani si presenta come nemico del cosiddetto Deep State e dei possibili complotti che coinvolgano apparati statali, come mostra la decisione-simbolo di desecretare i dossier sull'omicidio Kennedy. Il presidente degli Stati Uniti, Donald Trump, ha sicuramente il potere di rivelare agli italiani anche la verità sulla strage di Ustica. Quarantacinque anni dopo lo storico disastro aereo rimasto senza colpevoli, L'Espresso rilancia l'appello dell'associazione dei parenti delle 81 vittime e lo rivolge al capo politico supremo delle forze armate americane, con una traduzione completa dell'inchiesta di copertina pubblicata nell'aprile scorso dal nostro settimanale.
Tutte le sentenze civili e le ultime indagini penali confermano che il DC-9 dell'Itavia fu abbattuto in una battaglia aerea che coinvolgeva almeno tre aerei militari: due caccia della Nato che inseguivano un velivolo militare nemico, probabilmente un Mig libico. Almeno uno di quei jet era sicuramente statunitense, come dimostra, tra molte altre prove, il ritrovamento di un serbatoio militare americano accanto ai resti dell'aereo civile. Il 27 giugno 1980, in piena guerra fredda, era una verità indicibile. Oggi gli italiani hanno diritto di sapere. L'Italia è da tre quarti di secolo uno dei più fedeli alleati degli Stati Uniti. Le sentenze giudiziarie spiegano che i protagonisti di quella «operazione di guerra in tempo di pace» non volevano colpire l'aereo passeggeri, che fu investito per un errore di manovra. Va sottolineato che i piloti americani non rischierebbero alcuna conseguenza legale neppure se venissero identificati: dopo la tragedia della funivia abbattuta del Cermis, la magistratura italiana ai massimi livelli ha stabilito che i militari della Nato non possono essere processati nei nostri tribunali per azioni di servizio, per «difetto di giurisdizione». Ecco i due articoli de L'Espresso tradotti in inglese dal nostro collega Leo Sisti.
The Ustica massacre is no mystery
Recovered from the depths of the sea at a depth of more than 3,500 meters, those pieces of the airplane almost seem to speak to the experts. They tell the story of what they suffered, how and why they were deformed.
The piece that is most important to the experts, the key piece of evidence, is now on display at the entrance to the Ustica Memorial Museum in Bologna, where the DC-9 that crashed into the sea on the evening of June 27, 1980 has been reassembled. The tip of the right wing is marked by bumps and scrapes. It is the first piece of metal, the closest to the visitors who enter to see the skeleton of the civil aircraft with the red Itavia logo, commemorating the 81 victims. It seems like a message: perhaps the truth is there for all to see, you just need to know how to look.
The Ustica massacre is no mystery. It is true that the criminal trials ended without any convictions. And in recent weeks the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office has asked to dismiss even the latest investigations. «But even these investigations confirm the truth that has now been established in the civil trials, with several final sentences: it was an act of war in peacetime, an unspeakable massacre», explains Daria Bonfietti, president of the association of relatives of the victims, who lost her brother Alberto, a journalist, in the tragedy.
At her side, in the warehouse transformed into a museum, is her partner Andrea Benetti, who lists the theories that have proved to be unfounded: from the terrorist bomb to the false theory of “structural failure”, which caused the bankruptcy of the innocent company Itavia. In the gardens at the entrance there is a tribute to Andrea Purgatori, the journalist who first broke through the “rubber wall” of misdirection.
The civil judgments confirm that the DC-9 was shot down by a military plane, but leave two alternatives open: a missile, or a plane flying too close, the so-called “near collision”. There has been talk of a US fighter plane, a French missile (this is the theory proposed by former President of the Republic Francesco Cossiga and former Premier Giuliano Amato), even an Israeli plane (according to an investigative book by Claudio Gatti), but even the latest investigations have not brought any certainty. However, some scholars have continued to work on Ustica for more than thirty years. By putting together a thousand pieces of the puzzle, they have created a reconstruction that is much more than a hypothesis: it is based on evidence, on concrete elements. Their conclusions confirm the aerial warfare scenario, but with an unprecedented dynamic: a collision. A fighter jet that hits the DC-9 with an uncontrolled maneuver while chasing an enemy plane.
Experts have been discussing it for some time, talking about it in universities. In their latest meetings there is a guest of honor: Professor Donato Firrao, a renowned academic of the Polytechnic of Turin, who in 1993 signed the report that dismantled the theory of the terrorist attack. «We didn't find the slightest trace of an explosion in any of the metal fragments of the DC-9», he summarizes today. This is the fact that disproves the internal bomb theory, but also weakens the external missile theory.
Thirty years ago, in his judiciary report, Firrao noted a particular deformation of a wing that could suggest a collision, but his suggestion was ignored. In recent years, Firrao has returned to work on the evidence and is now explaining what he has discovered to a group of engineers and scholars. He shows the image of the tip of the right wing and comments: it is «crushed on several sides», marked by «bumps, dents, tears, scratches» with a feature never noticed before. «As you can see, they are facing the bow of the plane». Silence. «So these are not lesions caused by impact against the surface of the sea, but by a previous collision, in the opposite direction». It's a turnaround. The Ustica plane fell into the sea in a nosedive, but this part of the wing was damaged in the opposite direction. «This is incontrovertible data», the metals scientist emphasizes.
At his side are two expert aeronautical engineers, Ramon Cipressi and Marco De Montis, who have been studying the Ustica massacre for thirty years. They have examined all the legal documents, including Firrao's report, with that first mention of a collision. Since then, they have continued to accumulate clues. «The collision explains everything: each piece of data is like a tile that fits perfectly into the mosaic», summarizes De Montis.
The two engineers also found a previous case of a collision with 49 civilian victims: a DC-9 that had departed from Los Angeles on June 6, 1971, was hit and shot down by a Marine F-4 fighter jet.
Engineer Cipressi shows us other images: at least five areas of the Italian plane DC-9, with the traces of the same number of blows and impacts distributed along a linear trajectory, from one wing to the other. «These are the marks left by the fighter jet that hit and shot down the plane», he summarizes. The first impact is precisely that which «deforms the tip of the right wing». The contact continues with «scratches that run under the same wing», again in the direction of the nose of the DC-9. In sequence, the right part (coincidentally) of the landing gear is damaged: note that «the damage is localized, the wheels remain intact and there is no trace of an explosion». And yet, «a fragment was torn off and ended up in the right leg of a passenger». That piece of metal was «sliced and thrown towards the bow by a mechanical force, similar to a very strong blow with a hammer».
Then, in the lower part of the fuselage, «the two power conduits are cut cleanly, again from right to left»,continues Cipressi. «Then everything in the commercial airplane shuts down; this explains why the captain's voice cuts off abruptly». The last impact between the two planes «damaged the left wing, which broke». The time was 20:59:45. The DC-9 immediately began to «break down». The death of the 77 passengers and 4 crew members was almost instantaneous.
These are the last pieces of the puzzle found by the experts. The previous pieces, which make up the whole mosaic, are put in order thanks to the data collected by the investigating judge Rosario Priore and the subsequent investigations, validated by civil sentences.
On the evening of June 27, 1980, a military operation involving at least two «F-111 nuclear-capable fighter-bombers» was underway, the engineers explained. An E-3 AWACS, a US spy plane with exceptional radar, was circling over central Italy. The DC-9 takes off from Bologna at 20:08, two hours late. It's a fatal delay.
In those minutes an intruder enters Italian airspace, which De Montis describes as follows: «It's a Mig-23, coming from Yugoslavia, probably returning from an aeronautical workshop equipped for repairs». At the time, civilian radar had an approximation of one kilometer. «If an airplane is less than a thousand meters from another, the controllers only see one», explains Cipressi. «In this way, a fighter plane could hide by flying close to a civilian airplane. It's the technique of masking». At the time Libya was an enemy country, linked to the Soviet bloc, but it had a privileged relationship with Rome. According to the experts, those masked flyovers did not raise any alarm in Italy, in fact even that evening «the Mig was unarmed».
The Libyan fighter jet arrives over Florence at 8:22 p.m., when it should have come across a Maltese civil airplane, destined to provide involuntary cover on the way to Libya. But the Air Malta flight is also late: it is still 80 kilometers from Florence. Whereas the Itavia DC-9 appears: the wrong plane arriving at the wrong time in the right place for the Mig, which can't wait and tails him. But his presence hasn't escaped the Awacs. The F-111s are landed in Aviano and Grosseto, while the search for the intruder begins.
An Italian fighter jet is already in flight, returning to Grosseto with pilots Mario Naldini and Ivo Nutarelli. They will both die in 1988 in the tragic crash of the Frecce Tricolori in Ramstein. That evening they are the closest to the intruder, and therefore the first to be able to identify it. In fact, «they diverted 150 degrees and followed the DC-9 for eight minutes, always keeping it at 10 o'clock, which happens to be a typical observation point», Cipressi points out. Starting at 8:25 p.m., the Italian pilots launched three "general alarm" signals: code 7300. At NATO bases, the alarm is sounded: an enemy attack is feared.
Two more Italian fighters take off from Grosseto, taking over from Naldini and Nutarelli, but then return. At least two French Mirage planes take off from Solenzara, Corsica. The Bulldogs squadron's F-15s take off from Decimomannu, Sardinia. It is impossible to know what missions they were carrying out: US military leaders have declared that the base's records for June 27th have been lost. However, the planes closest to the DC-9 are other fighter planes belonging to the American aircraft carrier Saratoga, which is in the Gulf of Naples.
Along the Ambra 13 air route, between the islands of Ponza and Ustica, there is a shadow zone, just out of the range of all radar centers. It is codenamed Punto Condor. Right there the battle begins. Thirty years ago aeronautical experts from Turin identified the radar traces of two planes that, after traveling for several minutes on a route parallel to the DC-9, make a sudden turn and point at it, at 90 degrees. «It's clear that they are intercepting the intruder», comments De Montis.
The two mysterious fighters crossed the route of the civilian airplane at 20:59:45. At the same moment «the DC-9 was pushed with its bow upwards 60 degrees and yawed 15 degrees to the left». Then it broke in two and fell into the sea. However, other traces of at least two planes still in flight remained visible. The last words of the Italian Captain Gatti were recorded in the black box, and revealed in 2013 by an investigation by Rainews24: “Look... What is it?”
The US fighter: evidence has disappeared
After figuring out what happened, reconstructing how the DC-9 was shot down, the Ustica experts tried to establish who was responsible. They discussed it in a series of closed-door meetings, in front of images of other artifacts, which completed the mosaic of a secret air war.
Three weeks after the Ustica massacre, on July 18, 1980, the discovery of the remains of a Libyan Mig-23 in the Sila mountains was made official. The pilot's body was in an advanced state of decomposition, according to the medical examiners. Old and new witnesses, including an Italian military officer who took part in the inspections (interviewed last year by Sky Tg24), confirm that the fighter had crashed at the end of June. So it's very likely the «intruder»: the plane that was hiding under the DC-9.
«The metal sheets are perforated by shots from 20-millimeter aircraft cannons: those used on American aircraft, in particular on the F-15s that probably took off from Sardinia», explains aeronautical engineer Ramon Cipressi. «The French ones are 30 millimeters, and the Russian and Libyan ones don't have such small calibers either. There are also missile fragments on the sheet metal», adds his colleague Marco De Montis.
Conclusion: the Libyan fighter jet was shot down in a second air battle. The first, the one involving the DC-9, according to the experts was fought by two American “A-7E Corsair II” fighters, which arrived first because they were the closest: «They are single-engine aircraft, armed with missiles and small cannons, but less fast than the Mig», explains De Montis. After the disaster, the Libyan plane was pursued by F-15s, which are «supersonic fighters, heavily armed»: the most suitable to reach and shoot down the intruder.
At least five Italian witnesses saw that scene of war. They describe «a single-seat military aircraft with a mottled brown color», like the Libyan Mig, «flying at low altitude and on the run» amid «flashes of light», followed «by two larger, two-seat, twin-engine fighters», like the F-15s. Witnesses from different points indicate the same straight course: the three fighters arrive from the sea, fly over the stadium in Cosenza and disappear over the Sila mountains. «It's a straight line that starts right from Punto Condor where the DC-9 was», the aeronautical engineers remark.
During their meetings, Cipressi and De Montis showed Professor Donato Firrao photos of pieces and sheets of metal fished out of the bottom of the sea, in the same area as the Itavia plane. These finds, however, do not belong to the DC-9. They are components of an external fuel tank from a US military plane. It is torpedo-shaped, was manufactured in California by the company Pavco, is five meters long and can hold 300 gallons of fuel, that is 1,135 liters. How did it end up on the seabed next to the wreck of the DC-9?
After several requests from the Italian magistrates, the Washington authorities replied that it would have been lost in 1981, 60 kilometers away, in a plane crash that was never reported. But for the experts it is «highly improbable» that it was carried by the currents to Ustica, also given that it was fragmented into dozens of pieces.
The object is completely damaged and dented: «The deformations are consistent with the impact of a fall into the sea», observes Cipressi. Among the remains there is also a piece of metal beam, with two parallel rows of circular holes, used to hook the tank to the airplane. «As you can see, this piece of the coupling beam is visibly torn», the engineer emphasizes: «So the tank detached due to a violent impact, it wasn't uncoupled». The military plane that may have hit and destructured the DC-9, is starting to become less mysterious.
Photos of the findings follow one after the other, while the experts discuss and comment. On the tip of the tank there are traces of a particular shade of blue paint. It is very similar, indeed it seems exactly the same, to the distinctive color of the twelve “A-7E Corsair II” fighters that were embarked on the American aircraft carrier Saratoga on the evening of June 27. They were used by a squadron identified as VA-37 “Bulls”. «In theory, those tanks can be mounted on four aircraft models, but only those of the Bulls of the Saratoga had a light blue bow», Cipressi and De Montis point out.
Here Professor Firrao intervenes, showing us the piece of the right wing of the Itavia civil airplane: «On the edge there is a white stripe, which seems to be a different shade of white compared to the DC-9. An expert report could be made to verify which airplane it belonged to, as it is done for road accidents».
Cipressi adds an eloquent fact: «The fuel tank fell into the sea in a ballistic trajectory with respect to the Condor Point». What does this mean? «It means that an object moving at a thousand kilometers per hour, that falls from a height of 7,600 meters, falls at precisely that distance, in that exact stretch of seabed». The two engineers, examining the deformations, suppose that it was crushed by the plane that was transporting it. Therefore, also the American fighter plane, which was damaged in the collision, could have fallen into the sea, as other clues suggest.
On the evening of the tragedy, the Palermo air rescue helicopter crews saw a series of military signal rockets, but not Italian ones. Furthermore, US position buoys, the kind also used for search and rescue operations, were found in the Ustica sea. The engineers deduced: «The Americans took action even before the Italians, so it's clear that they were looking for their pilot who had fallen into the sea».
Another concrete element was found, shortly after the massacre, on a beach in Sicily facing Ustica: it was the helmet of an American military pilot. It was mentioned in a top secret memorandum prepared by our diplomatic service for the Italian prime ministers, only declassified in 2014. On the helmet was a name: John Drake. The US authorities stated that there is only one pilot with that name, but he never operated in the Mediterranean. Moreover, Drake means dragon, so it could be a nom de guerre. Or a nickname inspired by the hero of a popular TV series: a Nato secret agent. Cipressi and De Montis point to another clue: together with the helmet, «a life vest from the Saratoga aircraft carrier» was found. Both artifacts were kept in military warehouses, but they have disappeared: someone managed to steal them, even though they were under court sequestration.
The mysterious American pilot who lost the white and light blue tank also had very powerful friends. Professor Firrao, strong in his authority, asked to the Italian magistrates to examine the artifact. The answer? «It can no longer be found». It was in Pratica di Mare, a military airport near Rome, «it was even photographed, but now they say it's gone». In short, after the helmet, «the fuel tank has also disappeared», Firrao laments. And so, while waiting to identify the fighter plane that killed 81 Italians, one thing is certain: all the evidence that could have been taken to Washington has disappeared.
