This complex operation was carried out by personnel from the 16th Field Engineering Group of the 3rd Air Force Engineering Department. It is a spatial truss structure, consisting of circular-section bars, connected at special steel joints, covering a flat area of approximately 1,900 square metres and weighing a total of around 58 tonnes. The entire structure was lifted using a single crane and positioned, with almost millimetre-level precision, onto a concrete structure comprising multiple pillars. Present at the so-called “launch” were Inspector General Marcello Di Lauro, Head of the Infrastructure Service of the Logistics Command; Colonel Sergio Cavuoti, Commander of the 61st Wing; Colonel Gennaro Noviello and Colonel Paolo Rizzetto, Commanders of the 3rd Engineering Unit and the 16th Field Engineering Group respectively. The project, carried out by personnel from the 16th Field Engineering Group of the 3rd Air Force Engineering Unit, forms an integral part of the complex restoration work to restore the hangar in question to full operational capability; in March 2009, was struck by a storm that destroyed its entire load-bearing structure. On that occasion, in fact, wind speeds exceeded 81 knots (approximately 150 km/h) – the maximum reading recorded by the anemometer at the local weather station. Personnel from the 16th Field Engineering Group, in the months leading up to the lifting operations, constructed the new reinforced concrete support structures, comprising 8-metre-high columns, and subsequently carried out the assembly at ground level – with significant advantages in terms of safety and speed of assembly – of the new spatial truss roof. A specific study was also carried out to simulate the stress conditions on the mobile crane, the support cables and the metal roof structure during the various stages of the operation, and a day with light or calm winds was chosen to carry out the operation. A 650-tonne capacity lattice-type mobile crane, one of only a few of its kind in the world, was used for the lift, assisted during the operations by two further mobile cranes, each with a capacity of 100 tonnes, to provide support where necessary. In order to monitor weather conditions, the 61st Wing set up a telematic station a few metres from the operations area, connected via a wireless system to the local airport weather station, so as to monitor, in real time, all data relating to wind, visibility and other meteorological phenomena. Once the new roof structure is complete, work will continue on installing the insulated roof panels, the side cladding panels and the motorised folding doors, which will make the building usable once again. Previously, the site had also been visited by Air Force General Mario Renzo Ottone, Commander of the Air Force Schools/3rd Air Regiment, and by Air Force General Maurizio Lodovisi, Logistics Commander.
