In the early post-war years, the Italian Air Force laid the foundations for its organisation and gained recognition with the general public thanks to the numerous long-distance flights and records achieved by its personnel and aircraft, both in Italy and around the world, marking the epic of flight. It is enough to remember the Rome-Tokyo flight in 1920, with Arturo Ferrarin, Guido Masiero, and two young motorists, Gino Cappannini and Roberto Maretto.
After the establishment of the Regia Aeronautica as an autonomous armed force on 28th March 1923, the development of aviation in Italy received a new impetus. The airplane perfectly embodied the model of modernity, heroism, and the ability to accomplish extraordinary feats advocated by the regime. In 1925, Francesco De Pinedo and motorist Ernesto Campanelli flew for 55,000 kilometres from Sesto Calende to Melbourne, Tokyo, and then back to Rome. Two years later, De Pinedo, Carlo Del Prete, and Vitale Zacchetti embarked on a journey covering 46,700 kilometres along the Elmas-Porto Naval-Rio de Janeiro-Buenos Aires-Asunción-New York-Terranova-Lisbon-Rome route.
In 1926 and 1928, the expeditions of Colonel Umberto Nobile to the North Pole, with the exciting success of the Norge airship and the tragic loss of the Italia, marked both the glory and the subsequent decline of ‘lighter-than-air’ aviation within just two years.
In the meantime, the concept of long-distance collective flights gained ground, with Italo Balbo, the Minister of the Air Force, being a strong supporter. The first expedition was the Western Mediterranean Cruise (26th May – 2nd June 1928), carried out by a formation of 61 seaplanes flying from Orbetello to the Iberian Peninsula and back. The following year, from 5th June to 19th June, it was the turn of the Eastern Mediterranean, with 35 seaplanes visiting Taranto, Athens, Istanbul, Varna, Odessa, Constanta, and eventually returning to Orbetello.
It was here in Ortobello in 1930 that preparations for the first Atlantic crossing in formation headed to Brazil began. The expedition, led by Balbo, lasted from 17th December 1930 to 15th January 1931, when the aviators arrived in Rio de Janeiro. The success of this endeavour led to a similar project to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Armed Force: the transatlantic flight to the United States. On 1st July 1933, a formation of 24 S.55X seaplanes, commanded by Balbo, took off from Orbetello and reached New York eighteen days later.
It was an overwhelming success in the homeland of aviation, and an exultant crowd awaited the Italian pilots as they paraded triumphantly through the streets of Broadway. Mass air cruises, the result of serious and meticulous preparation, marked the transition from the pioneering period of aviation to the modern era, where flight ceased to be an expression of individual initiative and became the product of careful teamwork and planning. While the race for records continued, with the Regia Aeronautica holding 33 of the 84 records offered by the FAI (‘World Air Sports Federation’), the young Armed Force had the opportunity to demonstrate its skills and expertise first in Ethiopia and then in Spain, where it sent numerous volunteers who fought under the banner of the Legionary Air Force.
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