2-3 July 2016. The Frecce Tricolori overfly the aerport.

A Century of “Aeritalia”

100 years have passed since the maiden flight by Lt. Almerigi to test the sp2 aircraft took place on July 10, 1916 from the Turin-Aeritalia airport.
In addition to Aeritalia, the only Italian airports still active today after more than 100 years are Cameri (Novara) July 28, 1910, La Comina (Pordenone) August 7, 1910, Venaria (Torino) 1910, Aviano (Pordenone) 1911, and Ciampino (Rome) February 14, 1916.

With the intention of providing suitable and appropriate emphasis to this Anniversary, a work group was formed in October 2015 under the direction of the Aero Club Torino. This immediately set to work to determine all organizational aspects.
The various local public bodies (Piedmont Region and the Municipalities involved in the event) plus the most important trade associations (Employers’ Association, Confindustria, Chambers of Commerce, Aero Club of Italy, etc.) associated themselves with the Organising Committee.
The anniversary was celebrated with the particular support of the Municipality of Collegno and Industrial Union through a series of events that gained universal acceptance.

The Conference

Address by the President of Industrial Union,  Licia Mattioli, to the convened assembly

Guests of the Assembly: Licia Mattioli, Angelo Moriondo,  Pietro Mulatero, Andrea Romiti, Tom Dealessandri, Paolo Cantarella

Preceded by a series of meetings in various locations of the city of Collegno, aimed at illustrating the centuries-old history of the airport, on Thursday, June 30, at the Salone dei 500 at the Turin Industrial Union, a conference introduced by the President Licia Mattioli entitled: “the Aerospace Industry: prospects of development through skills, innovation and research”, was held, targeted especially to the attention of the youngsters of the Polytechnic and the aeronautical technical schools who attended the conference.
Among the speakers were Gen. Maurizio Nastasi of the Italian Air Force, the Rector of the Turin Politechnic, Prof. Marco Gilli, Prof. Patrizia Chiesa of the ITIS Carlo Grassi, Tom Dealessandri and Andrea Romiti of the Piedmont Aerospace District, Eng. Valerio Cioffi from Leonardo-Finmeccanica, Eng. Riccardo Procacci of Avio Aero, Eng. Pietro Messidoro of Thales Alenia Space Italy, Eng. Vittorio Murer of utc Aerospace Systems Microtechnology, Prof. Stefano Serra of its Aerospace Foundation, and Dr Angelo Moriondo, President of the Aero Club Torino. The conference moderator was the journalist of the “Il Sole 24 Ore” Dr Marco Ferrando.
In the afternoon, the students visited the premises of Thales Alenia, in Corso Marche and later, in the adjacent Aeritalia Airport, attended the test flights of the Frecce Tricolori made prior to their exhibition scheduled for Sunday, July 3rd.

The opening ceremony

The Collegno Band plays the National Anthem

The opening ceremony took place at the airport, at 11 am Saturday, July 2, 2016 in the presence of the city authorities of Collegno, the representatives of the city of Turin, the Piedmont Region, the Government, and the aerospace industries.
After the customary greetings by the authorities, the mayor of Collegno Francesco Casciano, accompanied by the Italian national anthem, played by the municipal brass band, proceeded to cut the ribbon of the exhibition sector, located in the southern part of the airport, officially inaugurating the centenary celebrations.

 

Cutting the ribbon. From Left: Umberto D’Ottavio, Nino Boeti, Silvana Accossato, the Mayor Francesco Casciano Angelo Moriondo, Matteo Cavallone, Isabella Bioletti

Welcome address by Francesco Casciano, the Mayor of Collegno

It is estimated that on Saturday a crowd of over 20,000 people visited the exhibition stands, the static display of some 40 historic aircraft from all parts of Italy and that of the 30 or so historic vehicles exhibited by the “FIAT historical car Group”.

Participation of National Association of the Carabinieri

IOn the occasion of the celebratory festivities for the Centenary of the Torino-Aeritalia airport, and in consideration of the 50th Anniversary of the formation of the Helicopter Groupe of the Carabinieri, the National Association of the Carabinieri set up a large exposition area which included a cine-photographic exhibition in memory of the most significant aviation protagonists of this service as well as a considerable number of historic vehicles, both land and air, including the recently-restored AB 47 G3B1 helicopter registered CC24, (MM 80891) donated to the Carabinieri by the Fondazione Museo Agusta of Gallarate.

Entrance to the ANC display area

Homage by the Frecce Tricolori to General  Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, Gold Medal for Valor

Static exhibition of the historic AB47 G3B1 helicopter of the Carabinieri

Prizegiving ceremony for the Italian athletes

July 3 began on the the Italian Air Force stand, in the presence of Gen. Lucio Bianchi, with the award ceremony to those Italian athletes who in 2015 had distinguished themselves in aeronautical specialties.
The award ceremony, which usually takes place in Rome with the attendance of the CONI President, was held in Turin at the behest of the President of the Aero Club of Italy, Senator Giuseppe Leoni to give greater prominence to the celebrations of the centenary of the Turin Airport.

Prizegiving ceremony for the “azzurri” on the Air Force stage

General Lucio Bianchi

Senator Giuseppe Leoni, President of the Aeroclub of Italy

The Air Show

According to data supplied by the municipality of Collegno, approximately 140,000, spectators came to see the air show held on Sunday, July 3, which saw the pilots of the Italian National aerobatic team – the Frecce Tricolori, with their Macchi 339 aircraft as the main protagonists, giving their performance to close the event.

July 3. Welcome relief to the crowd by the woodland fire fighters (AIB)

In the afternoon, an intensive Air Display program took place under the direction of the Director of the event, General Cesare Patrono. This consisted of more than 4 hours of various stunts and performances in various aeronautical specialties with a program which, among others, saw an exhibition by the We Fly Team (Texan 2.0), Pioneer Team, P-3 Flyers, Captens (CH.10), Blue Circe (FL 100) and soloists Del Buono, Racioppoli, Filippini and others, in addition to the exhibition by helicopters of the Italian Army and the ab 139 Rescue helicopter (Airgreen).

The Swiss Pilatus P-3 Team perform a spectacular opening

The C-27J of Leonardo-Finmeccanica in static display

… the Frecce Tricolori are here!

The air show concluded with a magnificent performance by the “Patuglia Acrobatica Nazionale” (PAN) – Frecce Tricolori, applauded from all the audience, bringing to a worthy conclusion an event that received unanimous praise for both the spectacular and the organizational aspects.

Associated works

The new hangar inaugrated in June 2016

Contributing towards the Centenary celebration, the City of Collegno, in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space and Altec, created a so-called “urban museum” along Viale Certosa overlooking the airport, transforming it in fact into “Aerospace Avenue”, setting up, in addition to the Quarantelli roundabout, inaugurated in 2009, which already houses an AMX in its center, other two roundabouts, the first of which has held a simulacrum of a space capsule complete with astronaut inside and the second, a copy of the “Rover” which was sent to explore Mars.
Also as part of the Centenary celebrations, the reconstruction of the hangar which collapsed during the exceptionally heavy snowfall of 1986 was completed in June 2016, simultaneously completing the infrastructural works for the 118 helicopter structure (fire extinguishing services, sewer utilities etc).

The roundabout with the mockup of the space module

The roundabout in Viale Certosa with a replica of the Mars Rover

 

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