Angelo Palazzi, played by Greek actor Paul Stassino in the film Thunderball, is an agent of SPECTRE. Palazzi goes through two years studying NATO pilot François Derval, taking flying lessons and finally going through plastic surgery in order to impersonate Derval, so he can hijack an Avro Vulcan jet and its atomic bombs.

Paul Stassino as Angelo Palazzi in ‘Thunderball’.

Palazzi’s first appearance is in a health clinic, covered in bandages due to the surgery. After Bond spies in his room, his contractor Count Lippe tries to kill Bond in a spinal traction machine. Then Palazzi comes to Derval’s home with SPECTRE agents while the latter is making love to Fiona Volpe, fatally gasses Derval and takes his documents and dogtag, and before leaving demands a higher fee of $250,000 for his mission, which his cohorts appear to reluctantly agree to.

In the air, Palazzi gasses the crew, allowing him to take control of the plane and sink it in a designated location with underwater landing lights near the Bahamas. However, when he tries to get out of his seat, he is unable to release his restraining harness. Emilio Largo comes with his men as Palazzi signals for help, but Largo cuts the air hose of Palazzi’s oxygen mask instead. Palazzi is left to drown in the cockpit while Largo and his men take the bombs away.

Later, Bond discovers the sunken airplane and takes Derval’s dogtag and watch from Palazzi in order to get some help from Derval’s sister, Dominique (Domino).

The plane hijacker in Never Say Never Again is again Domino’s brother, Jack Petachi. Petachi has undergone an operation to alter one of his retinas to match the retinal pattern of the US President. Using his position as a pilot and the eye pattern to circumvent security, Petachi infiltrates an American military base in England and orders dummy warheads in two cruise missiles replaced with two live nuclear warheads, which SPECTRE captures and uses to extort billions of dollars from governments of the world. He is then killed by Fatima Blush.

Novel biography: In the novel, the V bomber is hijacked by Domino’s brother Giuseppe Petacchi. He is an Italian Air Force pilot, hired by Lippe at Boscombe Down Airfield. Petacchi goes into the V bomber acting as a NATO observer of Royal Air Force procedure. After killing the crew, he flies the bomber to the Bahamas. After successfully ditching the aircraft, Petacchi walks out on the wing to meet Largo. Instead of congratulating him, Largo stabs him dead and dumps his body into the water for the sharks to consume.

See also:

• Bond henchmen