L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear readers, Father's Day, c o m i n g u p June 17th reminded me that aviation was a subject dear to my late father Vincenzo. To hear him tell it Italy was, prior the 1940s, a world leader in aviation with 18 companies producing aircrafts. Although the Wright brothers,Wilber (1867-1912) and Orville (1871-1948), were early US aviation aficionados and inventors (Wilber improved the German Lilienthal's gliding machine by maintaining balance by air pressure on the wings instead of body movements of the passenger) it was not until 1903 that the brothers felt safe enough to add an engine (a 4- cylinder, 12 horse power motor) to their flying machine, which flew for 59 seconds at 30 mph. By mid 1908, the work of the Wrights and Wilber's first pub- lic flights in France in a Wright biplane dispelled all doubts that t h e a e r i a l a g e w a s r e a d y t o begin. In 1909, the Wright brothers c o n n e c t e d w i t h I t a l y ' s K i n g Victor Emmanuel III, and trav- e l e d t o C e n t o c e l l e , o u t s i d e Rome, to train two pilots for the Italian Army. The first inflight film footage ever shot showed Wilber at the helm, flying over the flight grounds in Italy. The Wrights also attended Italy's first aerial display exhibitor held in Brescia. It may have been the Wrights who inspired them, but according to my father Vincen- zo and millions like him, it was the Italian intelligence and cre- ativity that made aviation soar. *** Mario Calderara (1879-1944) was an Italian naval officer. He corresponded with the Wright brothers and performed glider experiments in the Italian navy. On March, 11, 1909, Calder- ara made the first successful f l i g h t i n a n a i r p l a n e t h a t h e designed and built. Calderara participated to Italy's first aerial display in Brescia, Lombardy, in September 1909, winning f i v e o u t o f t h e e i g h t p r i z e s awarded. In 1912, Calderara designed, built and flew a seaplane capa- ble of carrying the pilot and four passengers. It was the largest a i r p l a n e i n t h e w o r l d a t t h e time. During World War I, Calder- ara operated a seaplane pilot training school for American aviators in Italy. Remarkably, in 18 months of operation, not a single one of his students was injured in a flying accident. The United States Navy recognized Calderara's services by award- i n g h i m i t s s e c o n d h i g h e s t honor, the Navy Cross. In 1925, Calderara left the navy to represent American air- craft companies in Paris. The outbreak of WWII destroyed his business and forced his return to Italy, where, atypically for a pioneer aviator, he died in bed. *** Mario Cobianchi was born in 1885 in Bologna. Cobianchi also participated to the first Ital- ian air exhibition in Brescia, in 1 9 0 9 . A f a m o u s p h o t o g r a p h taken in 1911 shows an aircraft circling the Tower of Pisa, with Cobianchi at the controls. *** Gianni Caproni (1886-1957) was an engineer who designed and built his first airplane in 1912. During WWI, his three- engine Caproni Ca-32 and Ca-33 heavy bombers carried out high- ly effective long range bombing assignments against the Austro- Hungarians.  In 1918, about 500 American candidates were sent to Italy to be trained as pilots. After com- pleting their training, about 75 remained in Italy to augment I t a l i a n b o m b e r a i r c r e w s a n d learn strategic bombing. The missions they flew in Caproni bombers were the best combat bomber operations ever flown by members of the US Army Air Service. A f t e r t h e w a r , C a p r o n i designed civil aircraft, including passenger and transport aircraft, and was in charge of Italian air- craft production during WWII. At his death in 1957, Caproni h a d m o r e t h a n 1 8 0 a i r c r a f t designs to his credit. *** Alessandro Marchetti joined the Savoia aircraft company in 1922 as a design engineer, and t h e c o m p a n y ' s n a m e w a s changed to Savoia-Marchetti. Marchetti designed racing sea- planes and huge, twin-hulled flying boats, including the SM- 55 aircraft, which were used by Gen. Italo Balbo in his 1928 to 1933 mass flights. Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863- 1938), born in Pescara, was a p o e t a n d W W I a v i a t o r w h o gained fame by leading a flight of Italian war planes over Vien- na and by dropping propaganda l e a f l e t s . T h i s a u d a c i o u s a c t prompted the Habsburg emperor to observe of the Italians: "Their poets flight like soldiers, and our soldiers flight like poets." In World War I he made a brilliant record as an aviator. After the war, he seized Fiume as Italian territory. *** Italo Balbo (1896-1940) is perhaps the best known Italian name in aviation, because his flights o the USA took place during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency and there are many senior citizens around who can recall hearing about their father, uncle or other relative making the trip to Chicago, New York or any other flight stop, to wave and cheer Italo Balbo. Mussolini a p p o i n t e d h i m M a r e s c i a l l o dell'Aria and, in 1926, he began building the Italian Royal Air Force, and took a leading role in popularizing aviation in Italy and promoting Italian aviation to the world. I n 1 9 3 3 , f r o m J u l y 1 s t t o August 12th, twenty-four sea- p l a n e s f l e w r o u n d - t r i p f r o m Rome to the Century of Progress i n C h i c a g o , I l l i n o i s , m a k i n g eight stops and ending on Lake Michigan, near Burnham Park, and New York City. In honor of this feat, Mussolini donated a column from Ostia to the city of Chicago: the Balbo Monument. It can still be seen along the Lakefront Trail, a little south of Soldier Field. Chicago renamed the former 7th Street "Balbo Drive" and staged a great parade in his honor.  From Chicago, Balbo and his pilots flew to New York City with an escort of 36 US air- planes. New York gave them a warm welcome on Broadway (Manhattan). Millions of people watched the parade of dozens of cars escorted by police horses along the streets of Manhattan. Balbo was featured on 26 June 1933 cover of Time. During Balbo's stay in the United States, President Franklin Roosevelt invited him to lunch and presented him with the Dis- tinguished Flying Cross. The Sioux even honorarily adopted Balbo as "Chief Flying Eagle." Balbo received a warm welcome in the United States, especially by the large Italian-American populations in Chicago, New York City and cheering mass in Madison Square Garden.

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