Chapter 7 - The beginnings of the “Torino-Aeritalia” Airport

01 Pomilio cartolinaPoster for Pomilio Industries

On the 9th of January 1916, Ottorino Pomilio founded the “Soc. Anonima Costruzioni Aeronautiche ing. O. Pomilio & C.”, located at No. 366 Corso Francia.
Pomilio was a highly appreciated Engineer of the DTAM (Direzione Tecnica Aviazione Militare), the military design bureau, where, together with Engineer Umberto Savoia, he had already designed the first of the “SP” aircraft (Savoia-Pomilio).

02 Interno stabilimento Pomilio
1917. The Pomilio production workshop in Corso Francia in Turin (today Alenia)

03 Corradino Dascanio

Engineer Corradino d’Ascanio, Pomilio Industries
collaborator and designer

In 1915 he resigned from the DTAM to start his own company, aimed at the design and development of the SP.2. Thus, in the midst of the First World War, he founded the company which would soon become an important part of the Torinese industrial scene, to the extent that by 1917 it already employed more than a 1,000 people.
Pomilio could count on many excellent collaborators, among which which was a man from Abruzzo like himself, Lt. Engineer Corradino D’Ascanio, later to become one of the great pioneers of Italian aviation.

 



04 Pomilio SP2 bis in allestimentoPomilio workshops: SP.3 in construction

05 Pomilio carlinga SP3Pomilio workshops: SP.2 fuselage assembly

06 Baldioli USA222 ottobre 1917. Mineola airport (Usa), Baldioli welcomed by American fliers after his
trip from Langley (Virginia) to New York

D’Ascanio collaborated with Pomilio in the design of both fighter and bomber aircraft – machines which soon found themselves facing the Austrian pilots in the period following the disaster of Caporetto. He also ceded to Pomilio the rights of Patent No. 32,500 of 30th June 1916 for the “Universal automatic clinometer for aircraft and other flying machines. In particular, in aeroplanes, this instrument will automatically indicate the inclination at all times, both longitudinally in pitch and horizontally in roll”. It was the ancestor of the artificial horizon.


07 maestranze industria PomilioPomilio had over 1000 workers and a production of more than 150 aeroplanes a month

D’Ascanio (who would beome world-famous as the designer of the “Vespa” scooter) is considered as the father of the helicopter, His studies on vertical flight led him, on April 27th 1925, to patent a twin-bladed contra-rotating helicopter built by the Camplone company of Pescara.
The design of the 2-seater fighter “C.1” began that same year, and by June 1917, when production ceased, some 80 examples had been built. Future Pomilio aircraft were identified by the letter “P”.
On the 10th of July 1916 to test fly his aircraft he inaugurated what today is known as the “Torino-Aeritalia” airfield in the vicinity of Corso Francia factory, with the maiden flight of the SP.2 reconnaissance-bomber piloted by Sgt. Almerigi.
Following the “C” version, production of the “P.D” and “P.E” versions began, and in 1917 some of these were sent to the United States for presentation to the military authorities. The p.e version achieved some particularly notable results which included setting up a new American speed record of 210 km/h round a 480 km circuit (piloted by Baldioli, accompanied by his mechanic, Zappa).
At the height of its wartime production, the factory in Corso Francia attained an output of more than 150 P.E aircrafts a month.
In 1918, Pomilio was ready to test an aircraft designed and built in total secrecy, This had been given the name “P. Gamma”, and was a single-seater biplane with superb aerobatic characteristics powered by an IF (Isotta Fraschini) engine. The P. Gamma was presented to the Military Commission at the Mirafiori airfield piloted by Mario De Bernardi, but did not achieve the expected success.

08 Aeritalia 19161916

09 Stabilimento Pomilio 19171917

10 Aeritalia dopoguerra1950

11 Alenia col sole2011

The successive expansions of the Pomilio premises in Corso Francia

The last aircraft designed by Pomilio was the “P.F” version, completed in 1918. This, however, never went into production due to the sale of the factory to Ansaldo that summer (subsequently redesignated “sai – Gio-Ansaldo & Co. – Aircraft Factory No. 5”). Up until that time Pomilio had built over 1,200 aircraft.

Thus it was with the Pomilio factory that the long adventure of the airfield known as “Torino-Aeritalia” began. Between 1945 and 1953 it became Turin’s main airport, playing a large part then and continuing to do so even today in Turin’s aeronautical scene.

The Aeritalia airport also became an attraction that did not disdain worldly aeronautical events.
“La Domenica del Corriere” of July 14, 1929 gave, for example, ample space to the flight from Turin to Milan by the Duchess of Aosta, the Duchess Elena of France and her husband the Duke of Puglia in a FIAT AS.1 with the coordination of and piloted by Arturo Ferrarin at the controls.

12 Augusti aeronauti To Mi rit smallLuglio 1929 - The Duchess of Aosta, the Duchess Elena of France and her husband the Duke of Puglia prepare to fly from the
Aeronautica d’Italia airfield

 

12 SP3okPomilio S.P3

14 PomilioPDokPomilio P.D

15 Pomilio PE
Pomilio P.E

Ottorino Pomilio

16 Ottorino Pomilio

Ottorino POMILIO was born in Chieti on the 8th of October 1887. He gained his degree in Engineering at the University of Naples in 1911 then attended the Higher School of Aeronautics in Paris, obtaining a degree in aeronautical construction.
He was an accomplished pilot, flying widely and setting records. In 1913, he set the Italian height record with PETTAZZI as his co-pilot.
That same year, he moved to Turin and joined the Aviators Battalion stationed at Mirafiori as a designer with the DTAM, where together with his fellow engineer Umberto SAVOIA, he dedicated himself to the creation of the “SP” (Savoia-Pomilio).
He resigned from the Aviators Battalion in 1915 to plan the set-up of his own aircraft construction company.
In May 1915, with the War in full swing, he founded the “Società Anonima Costruzione Aeronautiche Ottorino Pomilio & Co.” in Corso Francia to build the SP.2.
Ottorino POMILIO soon become a world authority in the aeronautics field, and as a result, following the sale of his company to Ansaldo, and on account of the performance of the P.E. aircraft in the USA, he was invited by the American government to contribute to the American aeronautical programme.
Together with his brothers Ernesto and Alessandro, he therefore founded the Pomilio Brothers Corporation at Indianapolis (Indiana) to produce fighters and bombers.
This company was essentially a consultancy company for the US government, producing experimental warplanes in collaboration with the Allison Experimental Works in Dayton, Ohio at the Engineering Division of McCook Field.
POMILIO died in Rome on the 3rd of January 1957.

17 Pubblicita Pomilio 18 Pubblicita Pomilio2

Corradino D’Ascanio

Popoli (PE) 1° february 1891 – Pisa 5 august 1981

19 DAscanio altraIn the aeronautical world, D’Ascanio is well known as being the “father” of Italian helicopters, but more fortunately (economically speaking) he became world famous as the creator of the “Vespa” scooter.
He attended the Chieti technical institute and then, in order to study engineering, he moved to Turin and in 1914 graduated in Industrial Mechanical Engineering from the Turin Polytechnic.
In December 1914 he volunteered for the Engineering Branch of the City of Turin “Aviators Battalion” where he was assigned to engine testing. In 1916 he was discharged and went to work for the Pomilio company where he collaborated in the design and construction of numerous prototype aircraft.
In January 1918 Pomilio sent him to the United States (Indianapolis), but soon relations with the “Pomilio Brothers corporation” deteriorated and D’Ascanio looked for fresh opportunities within the US aeronautical industry, setting up his own company with Engineer Ugo Veniero D’Annunzio (the son of Gabriele D’Annunzio) and the Caproni Airlines designer in Detroit for the construction of an airplane equipped with a Harley Davidson motorcycle engine.
However, the American adventure did not have the desired results and in September 1919 D’Ascanio returned to Italy.

Helicopter

20 Dat3 a

In 1925, following his return to Italy, together with baron Pietro Trojani, he founded a company whose object was the construction of helicopters and on 7 April 1925, patented the D’AT.1 helicopter with two coaxial propellers. The parts were produced at the Camplone workshops in Pescara where the prototypes of both the D’AT.1 and the D’AT.2 helicopters were built.
Both managed to fly for only a few minuts, but despite the lack of success these prototypes would allow D’Ascanio to design a new helicopter, much better than the previous ones, the D’AT.3 that received orders from the Ministry of Aeronautics and was built in the workshops of the Aeronautical Engineers in Rome.
The flight tests were carried out at Ciampino Nord by senior test pilot Marinello Nelli (the first man in Italy to experience vertical flight) at the controls.
“The Domenica del Corriere” dedicated its cover page to the event, while all the newspapers reported the news in their headlines.
In October 1930 the D’AT.3, with a FIAT A.50-S HP90 engine, achieved a number international flight records, including the straight-line distance without a stop and height from the starting point (about 55 feet).
The helicopter was patented in almost all Western countries and in Japan.
Unfortunately, the construction of the helicopter exhausted the capital made available by Baron Trojani, so that, in 1931,with no commercial prospects, D’Ascanio found himself in a state of near poverty.
His dedication to vertical flight was paid for dearly.

21 DAscanio Beltrame 9 nov 1930 smallIllustration by Achille Beltrame in “La Domenica del Corriere”
The variable pitch propeller

22 1931 Elica a passo variabileThanks to his experience with the helicopter, D’Ascanio became the leading Italian expert in variable pitch propellers and, luckily for him, the invention allowed him to recover his lost economic tranquility.
At that time, due to the increasing power of aircraft engines, the aeronautical industry was beginning to appreciate the need for the variable pitch (or constant speed) propeller.
It was therefore thanks to the skills acquired with the D’AT.3 that the attentions of the aeronautical section of the Rinaldo Piaggio company began to concentrate on D’Ascanio, and beginning from 1932, he became their technical consultant.
The demand for variable pitch propellers increased significantly in the years preceding the Second World War and they were mounted on many Italian planes including those of Macchi and Caproni.
In 1935 D’Ascanio designed a new helicopter for the Ministry of Aeronautics, the PD.2 (Piaggio-D’Ascanio2) followed in 1939 by the PD.3 which had only one rotor and a counter-torque propeller, in a configuration similar to that of modern helicopters.
Its development was slow and came to a complete stop with the outbreak of the Second World War. It was flight-tested only in 1942, but remained at the experimental stage.
In 1951, Piaggio attempted to restart the production of helicopters, and began construction of the P.D.4 (Piaggio-D'Ascanio 4), a twin-rotor machine, but abbandoned the project completely following an accident during a test flight.

23 elicottero sperimentale small1951. The experimental Piaggio P.D.4 helicopter during a test flight at the
Piaggio airfield of Pontedera

The “Vespa”

With the end of the Second World War, the conversion of the factories from war-time to peace-time production was a problem that needed to be solved.
Enrico Piaggio had the brilliant intuition of building a low cost motorcycle, accessible to everyone, and in the summer of 1945 entrusted the task to D’Ascanio who approached the problem from a completely new angle.
D’Ascanio did not like motorcycles, he had never been involved with them from the constructional side and he cared little for them as vehicles. He invented a vehicle for those who had never ridden a motorcycle and disliked the dirt and grime involved with riding them: thus he conceived the “Vespa” (wasp) which made its first official appearance in 1946 at the Milan cycle and motorcycle show and became an immediate success.
But that is another story.

24 Vespa mod 98 del 1946Piaggio Vespa 98CC of 1946

Mario De Bernardi

25 GammaIF pilota DebernardiMario De Bernardi with the Pomilio
P. Gamma IF 5

De Bernardi (born in Venosa, province of Potenza in 1893) enlisted at 18 years of age in 1911 as a volunteer for the Libyan War. During the First World War he joined the 2nd Piedmont Regiment of the Royal Cavalry at Pinerolo, the same regiment as Francesco Baracca, and is credited as being the first Italian pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft (over Verona). He later became a test pilot for Pomilio industries. 

In 1926 he participated in the ninth edition of the Schneider Trophy which was held that year at Hampton Roads, Virginia (United States).

The Schneider Trophy was a race for high-speed sea planes, with the winner usually setting a new world speed record. The race was held over a triangular course. The competition was initially sponsored by the French engineer Jacques Schneider in 1911 with the aim of stimulating technological progress, particularly for aero engines. The first competition took place in 1913.

On November 13 1926, Mario De Bernardi won the competition with a Macchi M.39 which completed the 350 km of the circuit at an average speed of 396.7 km / h setting a new world speed record for seaplanes. A few days later, in the same plane, he was able to improve on his own record.


26 De Bernardi su Fiat CR 19255 maggio 1925. Mario De Bernardi with the FIAT CR which set the world speed record over the distance of 500 km

In 1927, he defended the 10th edition of the Trophy in Venice. Although he was unable to complete the race due to engine failure, his Macchi M.52 was able to set a new speed record of 479.290 kph.
In 1928, with a Macchi M.52R, he was the first man to exceed 500 km/h, reaching 512,776 kph.
In 1931, in Cleveland Ohio, he won the aerobatics competition at the National Air Races.
In 1940-41 he was the first Italian to fly a jet plane Caproni-Campini N.1/C.C.2.
He had a long and illustrious aeronautical career and was awarded the Air Force Gold Medal. In 1959, the airport of Pratica di Mare (Pomezia – Rome) was named in his honour.
He died on 8th of April 1959.

Il primo volo postale

The first official airmail experiment between Turin and Rome was scheduled for 6 am on May 20, 1917.
In an article published that day by “La Stampa” it was reported:

“[…] The mayor, Senator Count Teofilo Rossi will send His Excellency Boselli, the Mayor of Rome and the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs a goodwill message, with the best wishes and greetings of the Turin civic administration and citizens to the capital”.

21 La tribuna illustrata da DIGITECAUnfortunately, inclement weather prevented the event from taking place as planned and “La Stampa” of May 21 commented on page 2:
“Yesterday morning’s driving rain caused the cancellation of the first experimental Turin-Rome airmail, ruining, of course, the morning inaugural ceremony. The pilot, Lt. De Bernardi, had to postpone the flight, waiting for better weather”.
Finally the weather improved and at 11.27 am on the 23rd of May 1917, the first Italian postal flight took place from Pomilio’s airfield (today Aeritalia). Lt. Mario De Bernardi, Pomilio’s test pilot, at the controls of a P.C (Pomilio Caccia) carried 200 kg of letters and 100 copies of the newspaper “La Stampa”, landing with some difficulty at 15,30, 4 hours and 3 minutes later, at the Centocelle aerodrome in Rome in the presence of civilian and military authorities.
The report in “La Stampa” punctually detailed the event as follows:
“[…] it was awaited […] by a large and elegant crowd held back by cordons of police on foot and on horseback […]. When the aircraft appeared above the field […] the pilot performed a daring evolution and then landed. During this last maneuver, the aircraft tail went up in the air, causing damage to the propeller and to the landing gear […] but it was quickly seen that the airman was quite unharmed and that the damage was minimal […].
[…] after a brief reception, Lt. De Bernardi, went by car to meet the Prime Minister Boselli, for whom he had a plaque and messages from the Turin authorities […]”.

22 Cartolina Posta aerea1917. Commemorative postcard of first experimental postal service Turin-Rome flown by Mario De Bernardi

De Bernardi returned to Turin by train since the accident to the propeller during the landing did not allow him to fly back.

23 Poste italiane copy1917. Air mail experiment

30 Debernardi sul Pomilio PCLt. Mario De Bernardi and his Pomilio P.C.

31 secondo volo postaleMario De Bernardi in his Pomilio after his second landing at Centocelle (Rome) with another load of mail from Turin

He later recounted his trip to the reporter:
“Once I was airborne I headed for Superga and immediately encountered a strong wind, but set the aircraft to cruise at a speed of 180 km/h […] I overflew the Giovi pass at a height of 2000 meters in strong winds and rain and then descended to a lower altitude to fly along the coast. The journey proceeded in fair conditions as far as Pisa. Here, bad weather made it difficult to continue the journey. The wind and intense rain posed the dilemma of landing or changing course. I preferred to change course and made a small deviation […]. At 15:21, I was over the City of Rome which I crossed at low altitude, and at 15:28 I reached the aerodrome at Centocelle where I landed [...]”.
A commemorative postmark was franked by the Italian postal service on the “25 cent Espresso” stamps carried aboard.

32 francobollo

 

33 MARCHIO10 Fiat AeronauticaAs mentioned earlier, the Pomilio factory and its airfield were sold to Ansaldo in 1918. They subsequently sold it to FIAT in 1926. Its name was changed to “FIAT Aeronatica d’Italia S.A.”, but was later abbreviated into the much better known “Aeritalia”.
At the time when FIAT added the word “AIR” to its existing “Land and Sea” activities, its most important “AIR” was that of Aeritalia.

25 Terra mare cielo

26 NEW 1928 Aeritalia maestranze Fiat1928. Torino Aeritalia airport. Meeting between the President and the work force. Amongst others, the following can be recognised (from the left): Captain Bedendo, Engineer Nuvoli, Captain Brach Papa, Ferrarin, Cobianchi, Colonel Bolognesi and Lt’s, Cassinelli, Bertolini and Ranieri. In the center, a French mission. In the background, a 6-winged Bréguet XIX, two BR-1 and a CR-1

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