At Loreto, at the SLE-AM, a lecture on the Regia Aeronautica in East Africa during the period 1934-1941
At the conference, which formed part of a series launched in 2007 by the Commander of the Institute, Colonel Mauro Sabbione, in attendance alongside serving personnel and course attendees were authorities and representatives of local institutions, the Loreto and regional branches of the Arma Aeronautica Association, as well as several pupils from the ‘G. Leopardi’ classical lyceum in Recanati.
The conference, starting from Professor Ciaramelletti's precise and clear historical summary of the Italian colonial experience in the period 1934-1941, was characterised by the testimony of Captain Grassigli who, stationed in East Africa during that time, recounted the years he spent in the Air Force, from his enlistment in 1937 as a supplementary sergeant-pilot, through his wartime experiences and two and a half years of imprisonment in Kenya. In particular, ‘veteran’ Grassigli focused on several episodes that took place in Italian East Africa from 6 June 1939 to 27 November 1941, when he flew CA.101, CA.111, CA.133, Ro.1, SM.81 and CR.32 aircraft, clocking up more than 184 hours of wartime flight time, summed up in 27 bombing raids and 10 offensive reconnaissance missions which earned him the Bronze Medal for Military Valour in addition to three War Merit Crosses. During his speech, Captain Grassigli also remembered, having known them personally, the Duke of Aosta and Mario Visintini, the Royal Air Force flying ace, Gold Medallist for Military Valour and the pilot with the absolute highest number of shoot-downs in East Africa among all belligerent forces, as well as the biplane fighter ace with the highest number of victories of the Second World War.
Drawing inspiration from the comparison of cultures, and consequently of ethical values present among different populations in the colonial experience in general, Professor Catà therefore emphasised, now more than ever and after 11 September 2001, ’the importance of the encounter between different civilisations, in the pursuit of universal human values, rather than a mere undifferentiated multiculturalism or a clash between them.“.
Concluding the series of speeches was that of Colonel Sabbione, who, presenting a commemorative item to Captain Grassigli, wished to thank him once again as an example of a “man who did his duty to the very end”, that “need to always press on for the uniform and the stars worn“, as Captain Grassigli himself had previously stated and emphasised.
