AEROPLANE TO AEROPLANO

     The formula of the Strategy of Tension is a concept that was invented (interestingly, not in Italy), to describe the terrible years, between the late 1960s and the end of the 1980s, during which Italy was bloodied by mass murders carried out by bombings, kidnappings and assassinations for ideological reasons.      According to the ones who coined that definition, the plan, attributed to the Far Right, was to create a climate of terror in Italy to justify the establishment of an authoritarian government and keep the Left away from the levers of power.      In the galaxy of terrorist groups active during that period, a five-pointed star became the emblem that identified the B.R.—the Brigate Rosse, or Red Brigades. The Red Brigades were a terrorist organization born from the loins of Italian communism and the remnants of the World War II Italian resistance. Over time, the group mutated and was infiltrated by foreign actors who steered it to...

     June 28, 1940. The shooting-down of Italo Balbo's airplane.       by Alberto Alpozzi (Translated from Italian by L. Pavese)      The Kingdom of Italy had entered Second World War just eighteen days ago.      It was 5:30 pm on June 28, 1940. The Britons had just carried out an air attack near the Italian base of Tobruk. High columns of black smoke were rising in the sky.      Two large airplanes, which for their shape looked like bombers, approached Tobruk airport at low altitude.      In the harbor of Tobruk there were the Italian Royal Navy cruiser San Giorgio and the submersible boat Bragadin . They were providing anti-aircraft protection, in conjunction with ground-based artillery, and they opened fire to defend from a possible second wave of bombing. A view of Tobruk harbor taken from a British RAF aircraft during the WWII      One of the two aircraft was hit and...

            The Colonial Air Tour of Italo Balbo     by Giorgio Baccinelli      The Air Tour of Southern Libya took place from June 15 to June 28, 1931. This air cruise is little known and was far less significant internationally than Balbo’s Atlantic cruises.      Its purpose was to fly over the Tibesti mountain range, a mountainous terrain in the center of the Sahara Desert, which had become a contentious subject between Italy and France. The French, taking advantage of the war against the insurgents in Cyrenaica, had made some territorial claims and created several military outposts in Southern Libya, where the inclement weather of the area allowed it.      The flight left from Ostia and consisted of three S.62bis seaplanes, powered by Isotta Fraschini 750 cv (740 hp) engines. An S.62 seaplane        The first seaplane was flown by Italo Balbo himself, with May...