On Thursday, April 15, the celebration of the anniversary at the Zodiac room of the ‘Luigi Conti’ Airport in Cadimare “It was March 28, 1910 when in France the builder and pilot Henri Fabre completed the first flight of a hydroplane,” recalled General of Brigade (r) Attilio Marchetti, former commander of the Cadimare base in the 1980s, while illustrating, together with Gherardo Lazzeri, representative of the publishing house LoGisma from Florence, the historical facts and the determination of some pioneers who contributed to achieving that technological success.
“It was on these waters – adds General Marchetti, referring to the Gulf of Spezia – that Lieutenant Vascello Mario Calderara carried out the first flight experiments in 1907 with a glider towed by a fast ship, thus launching Italian hydroaviation. And it was also in Spezia that in 1911 Captain of the Naval Engineering Corps Alessandro Guidoni made the first flight with a hydrofoil built in the arsenal of La Spezia.” After ceasing active service, General Marchetti devoted himself to historical research on hydroaviation, which was concretized with the elaboration of some texts. On this occasion, his book “The Pioneers of Hydroaviation 1900-1913” was presented, published by LoGisma of Florence, in which the topics discussed in the afternoon were extensively covered.
The event, organized by the Areale Logistics Support Center in Cadimare and attended by the Commander of the 1st Air Region, Air Force General Nello Barale, was attended by numerous local authorities, a clear sign of interest in the Air Force and the editorial initiatives dedicated to aviation.
