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Irnerio Bertuzzi (9 October 1919 – 27 October 1962) was an Italian military aviator of World War II who also served as personal Aviator to Enrico Mattei, head of the Italian petroleum company Eni. He died aged 43 when the aircraft he was flying was to crash.
Bertuzzi was awarded two Silver Medals and one Bronze Medal of Military Valor during the war.
Bertuzzi was at the controls of Mattei's Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris Business jet (I–SNAP) when it crashed in the countryside surrounding Bascapè in the province of Pavia, on 27 October 1962. Besides Bertuzzi and Mattei, United States Time–Life journalist William McHale was also killed in the crash.Giorgio Galli, Enrico Mattei: petrolio e complotto italiano, Milano, Baldini Castoldi Dalai, 2005 Shortly before takeoff on the fateful flight, he had announced to Mattei his intention to quit his job to take the lead in a new society called Alis.
Four months after the crash, the first enquiry was dismissed, attributing the liability of the disaster to the pilot's physical and psychological status and to technical malfunctions. In 2003, however, the inquiry of the Pavia Deputy Public Prosecutor Vincenzo Calia ascertained that the crash was caused by the explosion of ca. 100 gr. of Composition B planted behind the instrument panel and directly on the landing gear lowering mechanism.
At the time of his death, Bertuzzi had logged 11,236 flying hours, of which 625 were on the MS.760 aircraft.
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