A weekend dedicated to the history of aviation to celebrate November 4th, National Unity Day and Armed Forces Day, provides the backdrop for the Museum, which was created and built by the Italian Air Force to collect, restore, preserve and valorize aeronautical material of historical and documentary interest, the constructions and structures of the Vigna di Valle Hydroplane Dock, the oldest in Italy and the only one to have preserved virtually intact the architectural characteristics of the era. As guardians of the national historical heritage and its values, the Armed Forces are an indispensable element of continuity between the past, present and future. And a country that seriously wants to project itself into the future cannot do without its past. The Military History Museum, with its 13,000 square meters of covered exhibition space, is one of the largest and most interesting museums of flight in the world. The seat of the first Experimental Airfield, here flew the first Italian military airship in 1908. Arranged in four large exhibition halls, the Museum houses more than 60 aircraft and a substantial collection of engines and aeronautical memorabilia of various types that, in chronological order, tell the story of military flight in Italy and the story of the men who were its protagonists. The tour takes in the sections dedicated to the Pioneers, the Airships, the First World War, the epic of the Polar Flights of General Nobile, the Grand Cruises of Massa, the Schneider Cup, the aircraft between the two wars, the Second World War and the great aeroplanes, to conclude with the last hall dedicated to the post-war renaissance of the Air Force, including contemporary jet aircraft. On this occasion, it will also be possible to admire the IMAM Ro.37 Bis (IMAM – Industrie Meccaniche Aeronautiche Meridionali) aircraft, a reconnaissance biplane from the second half of the 1930s that was found by Italian troops in Afghanistan in 2006 and arrived at the Vigna di Valle Museum last October, after a restoration lasting about a year and a subsequent period of exhibition at the Volandia Flight Museum (Varese). The aircraft was in fact part of a batch of aircraft sold to the Afghan Kingdom in 1937 and remained in service until 1941. For visiting hours and further information about the AM Museum of Vigna di Valle, click here www.aeronautica.difesa.it/MuseoVdV/Pagine/default.aspx
