"Senta a pua!”
"Senta a pua!”: motto and war cry (in substance: launch yourself at the enemy with determination, glance and will annihilate him) of the 1° Grupo de Aviação de Caça or 1° GAvCa (1st Fighter Group) of the Força Aérea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force) in Italy. The motto is enclosed into the emblem of the Grupo which, equipped with Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, fought in Italy integrated in the USAAF’s 350th Fighter Group and based first at Tarquinia and, afterwards, at Pisa. The young pilot, born at Rio de Janeiro on 7 June 1924, is Roberto Tormim Costa, arrived at Pisa, San Giusto Airfield, with the rank of Aspirante Aviador (Ensign) on 25 December 1944 as pilot replacement of the 1o GavCa and assigned to Esquadrilha Verde (Green Flight) under the command of Capitão (Captain) Newton Lagares Silva. During its first mission, 4 January 1945, Roberto Tormim Costa placed his bombs on target and destroyed two German machine gun fire mounted over two trucks. The last mission of Tormim Costa was on 2 May 1945 and the pilot ended the war with 65 war missions. On 21 May 1945 Roberto Tormim Costa was promoted to the rank of 2o Ten. (2nd Lt.). Returned to Brazil aboard of an US Navy ship on 18 July 1945, Roberto Tormim Costa was assigned to Santa Cruz airbase (Rio de Janeiro) as a flight instructor, but on 29 April 1946, while doing maneuvers training using an AT-6D Texan collided with his wingman, a cadet, and was killed. Victor Sierra
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