1. Birth
On 28 March, the Italian Air Force's flight, which began in 1923, will reach the prestigious milestone of 100 years: a century of existence since the Royal Air Force was established as an autonomous armed force in the 1920s.
This passage recognised the overwhelming journey of the aerial vehicle which, less than twenty years after the first flight of the Wright brothers“ ”Flyer", had already seen in 1911, during the Libyan War, the very first use of the aerial vehicle in reconnaissance and bombing actions, and only three years later, during the Great War, the absolutely significant role of aviation in observation and bombing actions, and in the exploits of fighter aces like Baracca, Scaroni, Piccio, Baracchini, Ruffo di Calabria, and Ranza, which were recounted in the magazines of the time, fuelling popular imagination.
The exigencies of war have undoubtedly accelerated the development of the new aerial weapon, considered the weapon of the future, and along with the production of increasingly efficient flying machines, born with Giulio Douhet, came a doctrine of employment that has demonstrated its validity to this day.

2. Primates and flights
In the early post-war years, the Air Force laid the foundations for its organisation and established itself with the general public thanks to numerous raids and records achieved by the men in blue and their aircraft, both in Italy and around the world, marking the epic of flight.
The Rome-Tokyo flight suffice, starring, in 1920, Arturo Ferrarin and Guido Masiero, and two young mechanics, Gino Cappannini and Roberto Maretto.
After the establishment of the Royal Air Force as an autonomous Armed Force, aviation development in Italy received a new impetus: the aeroplane perfectly embodied the model of modernity, heroism, and the capacity for absolute achievements, advocated by the regime. And so, in 1925, Francesco De Pinedo and engineer Ernesto Campanelli flew 55,000 kilometres, from Sesto Calende to Melbourne, then to Tokyo and finally to Rome. Two years later, De Pinedo, Carlo Del Prete, and Vitale Zacchetti completed a 46,700-kilometre flight on the route Elmas-Naval Port-Rio De Janeiro-Buenos Aires-Asunción-New York-Newfoundland-Lisbon-Rome. In 1926 and 1928, Colonel Umberto Nobile's expeditions to the North Pole, with the thrilling success of the airship Norge and the great tragedy of the Italia, marked, in just two years, first the epic and then the inexorable decline of the “lighter-than-air” craft.
In the meantime, the project of long collective raids, of which Italo Balbo, Minister of Aeronautics, was a supporter, was making headway. The first undertaking was the Western Mediterranean Cruise (26 May - 2 June 1928) by a formation of 61 seaplanes from Orbetello to the Iberian peninsula and back. The following year, from 5 to 19 June, it was the turn of the Eastern Mediterranean: 35 seaplanes touched down in Taranto, Athens, Istanbul, Varna, Odessa, Constanta, finally returning to Orbetello. Here, in 1930, preparations began for the first Atlantic crossing in formation, as far as Brazil. The venture is led by Balbo, from 17 December 1930 to 15 January 1931, the day on which the crossers arrive in Rio de Janeiro. Their success launched a similar project to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Armed Forces: the Atlantic crossing to the United States. On 1 July 1933, a formation of 24 S.55X seaplanes commanded by Balbo took off from Orbetello to reach New York eighteen days later. It was an irrepressible success. In the homeland of aviation, a jubilant crowd awaited the Italian pilots as they paraded triumphantly through the streets of Broadway. The mass cruises, the result of serious and meticulous preparation, mark the transition from the pioneering period of aviation to the modern one, where flying ceases to be an expression of individual initiative to become the product of careful planning done through teamwork.
As the race for records continues – the Regia Aeronautica holds a considerable 33 out of the 84 up for grabs by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale – the young Armed Force has the chance to test its capabilities and expertise, first in Ethiopia and then in Spain, where it sends numerous volunteers who fight under the banner of the Legionary Aviation.

3. The Second World War
With Italy's entry into the war on the side of Germany on 10 June 1940, the Regia Aeronautica arrived at the conflict, already tried by the Ethiopian campaign and participation in the Spanish war, with a total of about 3,000 aircraft, only two thirds of which were efficient and ready to be used, often with flight characteristics and armament that were clearly inferior to those of the allied and enemy aircraft. Despite the courage and skill of our pilots, the difficulties proved to be enormous and the results of the conflict were heavily conditioned by the technological gap and insufficient resources. The Italian pilots fought with honour in Africa, in the Mediterranean, in the Balkans, in Russia and, of course, at home, but after two years, the fate of the war seemed sealed and there was no need for our industry to start producing competitive aircraft. After the Allied landings in Sicily, our units, although aware of the defeat, engaged in extreme resistance, demonstrating a daring that would be recognised by the enemy itself. With the armistice and the message to the nation from General Badoglio, the new Head of Government, most of the combatants found themselves in a difficult situation. Some joined partisan formations, others made the opposite choice by adhering to the Social Republic, while entire airborne divisions and even individual crews, in compliance with the clauses of the armistice, chose to flock to airports in southern Italy to continue the war alongside the Anglo-Americans. The war activity of the Italian Air Force continued until 8 May 1945, ending with the unconditional surrender of Germany. The Air Force left thousands dead and missing on the field. With this heavy toll of lives and with its units decimated by a 59-month war, it faced the post-war period and the problems of reorganisation.

4. The post-war period and accession to NATO
Italy's accession to NATO in 1949 produced immediate benefits in favour of reconstruction and, little more than ten years after the disastrous outcome of the Second World War, the Air Force was completely regenerated and perfectly integrated into the Atlantic Alliance thanks to the assistance programmes launched by the United States, with which it was able to renew and modernise its flight lines. In these years, with the coming on line of the first De Havilland DH-100 Vampire aircraft of British design and produced under licence by the domestic industry, the epoch-making transition from propeller to jet took place, although the “supersonic” turning point for the Armed Forces came in the 1960s when the F-104 ’Starfighter“ fighter-interceptor became the spearhead of the Air Force and dominated our skies for 40 years. The renewal process also affected the Flight Schools, which saw the entry of the Italian Aermacchi MB326 trainer and the introduction of the ”ab initio jet“ method. The level of excellence achieved by Air Force personnel is, in the meantime, brought to the public's attention with air shows held in Italy and abroad. Thus, the Italian tradition of collective aerobatics is reaffirmed with the establishment at Rivolto, in 1961, of the Pattuglia Acrobatica Nazionale, or better known as the 313th Gruppo Addestramento Acrobatico ”Frecce Tricolori“, destined to represent the Air Force and our country in all air shows in Italy and around the world. In the years that followed, as talk of Electronic Warfare began to spread, the MRCA-75 Project (Multi Role Combat Aircraft to be brought on line in ”75), better known as the Tornado, was launched, which saw the delivery to the Air Force of the first aircraft on 4 March 1981 at Pratica di Mare. At the same time, development of the new AMX light fighter-bomber began and, in the same year, the first Aermacchi MB-339As were delivered, which, in the PAN (Pattuglia Acrobatica Nazionale) version, without wingtip tanks, replaced the G-91s of the ‘Frecce Tricolori“.

5. International missions
Among the events that characterised the history of the Armed Forces in the 1960s, during which the Air Force began to appear in the international context by participating in missions conducted under the aegis of the United Nations, the massacre in Kindu, Congo, must be remembered. On 11 November 1961, thirteen soldiers from the crews of two C-119s of the 46th Aerobrigade were barbarously slaughtered during one of the many humanitarian transport missions carried out on behalf of the UN. Commitment in out-of-area operations under the aegis of the UN became a constant after World War II, following the geopolitical upheaval that took place in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the bipolar balance broke down and a series of new conflicts were generated in which Italy, and the Italian Air Force, participated as part of multinational coalitions. The first intervention of this type occurred with participation in the Gulf War of 1990-1991, in which a Tornado aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft fire in the skies over Kuwait, and followed by participation in operations in Somalia and the former Yugoslavia, where a G-222 was hit by an air-to-air missile and crashed to the ground while engaged in a humanitarian operation. In the post-Cold War world scenario, thanks to its force projection capability, the Air Force actively participates in the numerous multinational operations launched by the international community in an attempt to resolve the frequent crises that occur in various parts of the world (the Balkans, Albania, Bosnia and Kosovo, Eritrea - UNMEE - United Nation Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea and East Timor - INTERFET - INTErnational Forces in East Timor).
In 2001, specifically on 11 September, the attack on the Twin Towers once again disrupted international equilibria and opened the door to new scenarios, with intervention in Afghanistan, in which the Air Force immediately took part with the establishment of the 4th ROA (Autonomous Operational Department) in Bagram and the 5th ROA in Manas (Kyrgyzstan).
The Air Force's out-of-area commitments intensified in 2003 with the “Ancient Babylon” operation in Iraq, involving the men and women of the Air Force from the 6th ROA (Autonomous Operations Wing) in Tallil, and the 7th ROA in Abu Dhabi. In addition to the HH-3F helicopters of the 15th CSAR (Combat Search And Rescue) Wing and the C-130J transport aircraft of the 46th BA, the remotely piloted Predator aircraft of the 28th Teleguided Aircraft Group of the 32nd Wing are operating for the first time, ushering in a new era in which the use of the acronym ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance), with all that it implies, is becoming increasingly frequent. Afghanistan remains a staple, with participation first in Operation Enduring Freedom and later in the complex of activities framed within ISAF, while the personnel in the ASAAT (Airbase Support Air Advisory Team) and MI-17AAT (Airbase Support-MI-17 Air Advisory Team) teams at Shindand play an important role in the training of the personnel of the nascent Afghan Air Force.

6. Aerospace experience
In 1963, with the withdrawal of the Jupiter missiles stationed in Italy and Turkey, the Italian Air Force's experience with nuclear-warhead missiles came to an end. However, the immense body of knowledge acquired, combined with the competence, passion, and initiative of the inspector general of Aeronautical Engineering, Professor Luigi Broglio, provided the essential groundwork for the launch of the San Marco 1 satellite from the US base at Wallops Island. Italy thus became the 3rd nation in the world, after the USSR and the USA, to put its own artificial satellite into orbit, followed by the launch of San Marco 2 from the San Marco platform in Kenya in 1967, and San Marco 3 in 1971.
Since the beginning of the new century, the Italian Air Force has resumed its activity in the aerospace sector with the launch of the SICRAL communications satellite in 2001, and then with the participation of astronaut Maurizio Cheli, test and evaluation pilot from the Experimental Flight Department, as Mission Specialist aboard the shuttle Columbia STS-75, and Roberto Vittori, also a test and evaluation pilot from the “Sperimentale”, the first Italian cosmonaut on a Russian spacecraft, with the Marco Polo mission in 2002.
The Italian Air Force returns to space with two new protagonists: astronauts Samantha Cristoforetti, with the 2014 “Futura” mission and Luca Parmitano with the “Volare” and “Beyond” missions, which, for the first time, using new “social” communication methods, bring the space station into the homes of Italians.

7. On the Threshold of the Centenary
In 2005, with the suspension of compulsory military service, an era came to an end, and in the following years, the transition process towards an entirely professional armed force was completed. “Space-related” activities increasingly took on an inter-force character, but the Air Force continued to be a leading player thanks to its expertise. During these years, we also witnessed the retirement of the F-104 Starfighter which, after operating in parallel first with the Tornado ADV and then with the F-16 ADF, made way for the Eurofighter F-2000 “Typhoon”. In 2011, a new crisis erupted in the Mediterranean, in Libya, and once again the Air Force actively participated in the air campaign, which materialised in the operations “Odyssey Dawn” and “Unified Protector”.
The massive process of computerisation sweeping the world also affects the Air Force, which is adapting quickly to it by transforming the education programmes of training institutes and flight schools. This change is also necessitated by the coming on line of a fifth-generation aircraft, the Lockheed F-35, equipped with a broad spectrum of capabilities that give the aircraft an outstanding potential that, combined with innovative communication and real-time sharing capabilities of essential information (Net-Centric capability), allows the pilot an unparalleled management of the theatre of operation. Unfortunately, the serious health emergency generated by the global coronavirus pandemic, Covid-19, in 2020 once again sees the Air Force deployed on the front line to help the population, helping to keep hospitals operational, conduct the vaccination campaign and ensure the bio-containment airlift of the sick.
This is the path taken so far by the Air Force, which is about to surpass the prestigious milestone of its 100th anniversary. FLYING TOWARDS THE FUTURE – the slogan accompanying its 100th-anniversary logo – and in continuity with its values and traditions of the past, the Air Force will continue to ensure the full operational capability of its units and to develop an increasingly suitable and effective response to future challenges, which cannot be separated from the ability to be constantly at the forefront of innovation and technological progress.