General B.A. Bellini donates the prisoner's jacket

The commander of the TORNADO aircraft shot down by Iraqi anti-aircraft fire in 1991 has donated the jacket he wore during his captivity to the Italian Air Force.
The event took place in the Hall of Heroes at Palazzo Aeronautica, in the presence of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Air Squadron General Pasquale Preziosa, as well as numerous senior officers from the Armed Force and representatives from both Italian and foreign civilian and military circles. On this occasion, General Bellini, the crew chief of the Italian Tornado shot down by Iraqi anti-aircraft fire on the night of 17-18 January 1991 during Operation Locust, presented the jacket he wore during his captivity to the Air Force. The item will subsequently be displayed at the AM Historical Museum in Vigna di Valle. “It is a great honour for me to be able to donate this item to the Air Force,’ said General Bellini, ”an item that represents the suffering, commitment, and sacrifice not only of myself, but of the entire Air Force.“ General Preziosa reciprocated General Bellini's gesture by presenting him with the original Red Cross certificate, which sanctioned the officer's handover to his country at the end of his captivity, as well as the commemorative medal for the liberation of Kuwait, created at the time by the artist Luciano Zanelli and donated to the Chief of Staff. The Chief of Staff then retraced, together with General Bellini, some moments of the difficult period of captivity and its conclusion. Uno Mattina, 3 July