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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0017.PDF
FLIGHT, JULY 6, 1933 ITALIAN ROYAL AIR FORCE FLIGHT OVER THE MOUNTAINS : Two of the Savoia-Marchetti S.55.X flying-boats in formation. A' FTER a rather long wait for favourable weather reports, the two squadrons of Italian flying boats, consistbsg of 24 Savoia-Marchetti twin-hull S.55X. seaplanes with two Isotta-Fraschini 18- cylinder water-cooled engines each, mounted fore and aft above the monoplane wing, took off from Orbetello on Saturday, July 1, and flew in for mation to Amsterdam. On landing in the Zuiderzee at Schelling- woude, the Amsterdam seaplane station, one boat, of which Fit. Lt. Baldini was chief pilot, capsized, it is reported, through coming down in shallow water and burying her nose in the mud. One non commissioned officer was killed, and the commander, F/O. Novelli, and two other N.C.O.'s were injured. A reserve machine immediately took the place of the damaged one in the wing. On Sunday, July 2, the machines came on to Lough Foyle, in Northern Ireland. The wing is divided into eight flights of three machines each. Two flights have black as their dis tinguishing colour, two have red, two white, and two green. In each colour one flight is marked with stars and one with circles. A flight leader has one star or circle on his fin, his right-hand machine two badges, and the left-hand one three. Thus, Gen. Balbo's machine has black markings with one cross. Each machine is also marked " I " —and four letters of the pilot's name. In this way each machine can be easily recognised from a distance. Each flight flies in V formation, stepped down. The w "ig flies in i;neg of fljgnts abreast. Each chief pilot has been allowed to choose his second pilot, and the two other members of his crew. The regular crew is four persons, out a few machines are carrying five. The chief pilots of ™e machines are:—Gen. Balbo, Fit. Lts. Questa and «iseo Gen. Pelligrini, Fit. Lts. Miglia, Borghetti, Nan- nini, Lippi, Rovis, Leone, Teucci, Giordano, Napoli, Ver- ceuoni, Recagno, Gallo, Abbriata, Biani, Ranieri, Aramu, <-°ngo, Cannistracci, and Calo. wo v whole fii8ht of some 100 officers and men have been oriang together for some considerable time, and have had H.E. General Italo Balbo, Italian Air Minister and leader of the Flight. ample opportunity to become one harmonious whole. The first day's flight included a crossing of the Alps, the first crossing of its kind. If mechanical trouble had forced a machine down, a very bad crash would in evitably have resulted. The weight of the machines fully loaded is about 11 tons, though probably rather less than the full petrol load which was carried when crossing the Alps. The route from Orbetello was to Genoa, crossing the Appenines by the Giovi Pass among mountains over 10,000 ft. high, to Sesto Calende, at the southern end of Lake Maggiore. From there they turned westward to Como, and then due north over the Splugen Pass, flying at over 13,000 ft. among the high peaks of the Alps. The route then lay over Malans, Zurich and Basle. After Basle the route fol lowed the Rhine, where forced land ings would have been possible on many reaches of the river, though not on all. Fortunately, no such necessity arose. The wing flew over Mayence and Diisseldorf, and then reached the Zuiderzee. It seemed doubly tragic that after all the serious difficulties of the journey had been left behind, disaster should befall one machine when landing on smooth water. Arrival in Ireland On leaving Amsterdam on Sun day, the wing first met low clouds over the North Sea, and the sea planes had to fly just above the water for a time, which naturally did not cause so much anxiety as clouds over the land would have caused them. After an hour the weather cleared, and they found blue sky above and a calm sea below. They approached Scotland on the east coast and crossed from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde, which gave the shortest land crossing, and then made for North Ireland. They reached Lough Foyle at 12.30 p.m. and landed without mishap. They were escorted over the Lough by five " Southamptons " of No. 201 (Flying Boat) Squad ron. Gen. Balbo and his principal officers went ashore at once in a motor-boat, and were welcomed by Air Vice- Marshal Clark-Hall, A.O.C. Coastal Area, on behalf of the 663
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