Anniversary: The Decennale Air Cruise — Departure from Orbetello, July 1, 1933

On July 1, 1933, from the Orbetello lagoon, twenty-five SIAI S.55X flying boats took off in formation heading north: it was the Crociera aerea del Decennale (Decennale Air Cruise), organised by Italo Balbo to mark ten years of the Regia Aeronautica. Route: Amsterdam, Londonderry, Reykjavík, Labrador, and then Chicago, where the Century of Progress World’s Fair awaited the Italian formation. At Amsterdam, the first stop, the cruise paid its first price: a landing accident cost the life of a non-commissioned officer. Twenty-four aircraft continued, and on July 15 they landed on Lake Michigan.

The image of the formation has survived in the language: in the United States, a large aerial formation is still informally called, to this day, a Balbo.

The departure base still exists: the Orbetello seaplane base, with its workshops and the memory of the Atlantic squadrons. The cruise’s return has its own anniversary on August 12.