The STAMPE SV.4C on display in Via Roma during the Centenary celebrations for the first postal flight

Centenary for the first postal flight

The Aero Club Torino, “La Stampa”, Poste Italiane, AIDA (Italian Association of Aerofilatelia) and the Bolaffi company, in commemoration of the centenary of the inauguration of the first Italian air mail service prepared philatelic covers and a photographic exhibition, setting up stands in via Roma in Turin on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st May 2017.
On Saturday 20, at the Via Roma stand, a historic biplane aircraft was placed on exhibit. Since it was not possible, due to unavailability, to exhibit the replica of De Bernardi’s P.C1 of 1917, a historical aircraft of the 1930s was exhibited instead, a biplane Stampe SV4C.
On May 20, 2017 Poste Italiane prepared a similar photographic and philatelic event in Rome, at the headquarters of the Aero Club of Italy with the participation of Mrs Fiorenza De Bernardi, a flight pioneer (she was the first ever Italian woman airline pilot) and daughter of the pilot who made the initial postal flight in 1917.
In 1917 there was therefore a double recurrence which saw Turin as the protagonist, namely the aeronautical enterprise, with the first ever Italian postal flight and a philatelic one, which saw the issue of the first air mail postage stamp in the world.

The middle of the night movement of the STAMPE SV.4C (at Piazza Solferino, corner of Via Pietro Micca)

The motorcycle Municipal Police who escorted the plane during its night-time trip through the cit

Centenary of the First World War and First International Airship Meeting

November 4, 2018. The Swiss, French and German airships

The Armistice signed by Italy and Austria on November 4, 1918 brought the First World War to an end. According to the most reliable estimates, this war cost between 15 and 17 million dead, plus another 20 million wounded and mutilated, counting both the military and civilians. It was one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history.
Airships were frequently engaged in this conflict.
To commemorate the centenary since the end of the Great War and to underline the importance of air presence, represented by airships, the Aero Club Torino organized the “First international Airship meeting”.
Unfortunately an Atlantic depression was hovering over Italy and the two scheduled days of 3 and 4 November were hit by bad weather causing the event to be reduced, with many crews returning to their base.
Only the Swiss, the French and the Germans, who had arrived in Turin in the previous days, could still be present on Sunday 4 November, where, as the weather conditions improved, they were able to rise majestically and fly around the airfield to the delight of those present.

A suggestive picture of an airship at sunset

Inauguration of the monument to the Grande Torino

On May 2, 2019, for the 70th anniversary of the Superga tragedy, the Aero Club inaugurated a memorial monument designed and built by the architect Isabella Bioletti and the surveyor Dino Favaro.
The inauguration ceremony in the presence of a large audience began with the greetings by Angelo Moriondo, Honourary President of the Aero Club Torino and the Mayor of Collegno Francesco Casciano, followed by the active participation of Alberto Comi, General Director of Torino Calcio, Luca Asvisio President of the Filadelfia Foundation, Massimiliano Romiti Coordinator of the Toro Club, Angelo Cereser president of the ex Torino soccer players accompanied by former players of the 1976 Championship winners team Renato Zaccarelli and Nello Santin.
The children of the fallen were present: Gigi Gabetto with his son Guglielmo, Mirella Loik and Franco Ossola.
The monument was blessed by the Torino Calcio chaplain Don Riccardo Robella and by the Aero Club Turin chaplain Don Paolo Gariglio.

Some of the youngsters of the Torino F.C. youth team

Drone Grand Prix 2019

From the technical point of view, thanks to its experience in the subject, the Aero Club Torino, (at the request of the Municipality of Turin and delegated by the Aero Club of Italy) provided its indispensable collaboration to ensure the successful outcome of the show, assuming the Direction of the event which was held on the left bank of the River Po along Corso Cairoli in the area known as the Murazzi.
The “Drone Grand Prix 2019” was a world competition for tele-guided Drones which saw the 6 best pilots in this field representing the 8 participating nations, contesting the coveted title over the two days of the event. (Friday and Saturday July 12-13, 2019).
The competition was for “LED-illuminated” drones, which competed for the victory in head-to-head racing through customized routes (reaching speeds of over 160 km/h) while the pilots guided them with the aid of virtual reality visors. The competition was won by the Norwegian APEX team.

The race was broadcast live all over the world on TV, on-line and at all competition locations. The races were successively reproduced within the video game DCL. This was an important initiative that saw the city as the protagonist within an international circuit that brought a world-class aeronautical show to Turin after being held in China (the Great Wall), Paris (Champs Eliseé), Berlin and other locations.