This year, the traditional celebration held at the Air Force Academy featured the 64 young Second Lieutenants of the “Leone V” course as the stars.”
The term “Mak P100” is the translation of a playful and sarcastic expression ”mac pi100", which in the Piedmontese dialect means "only one hundred days" and expresses the anxious anticipation of the end of the academic period that precedes the assignment of pilots to the advanced flying schools in Lecce and Sheppard (USA) and the dispatch to the operational units of the Second Lieutenants belonging to the remaining roles (Weapons, Engineering Corps and Commissariat Corps).
During the reception at the Officers“ Club of the Academy, the Second Lieutenants wore their formal dress uniform and, in the presence of the highest civil and military authorities, as well as the patron of the ”Leone III“ course, Air Force Corps General Claudio Debertolis, and the patron of the ”Leone IV" course, Colonel Andrea Arigeri, they danced a waltz.
The Commander of the Academy, Air Brigade General Umberto Baldi, read the congratulatory message received from the Godfather of the “Leone I” course, Air Division General Oreste Genta, who celebrated the course's first Mak 100, along with his 60 fellow course members, back in June 1934.
A tradition, therefore, that repeats itself over time, testifying to the cohesion that unites the members of each academic course and their bond with the Air Force Academy.
