Surface go model 194310/29/2023 ![]() ![]() The driving factors in maintaining both progress and enthusiasm were some notable flights and records. ![]() The armistice, with the subsequent signing of the peace treaty on 18 January 1919, led to a rapid contraction of the nascent Italian aviation industry and a resulting technological stagnation - there existing no civil market for the sector - and the closure of many companies. The latter was celebrated for its S.V.A., a reconnaissance biplane in which Gabriele D'Annunzio flew over Vienna in August 1918. These years also saw the foundation of the first companies of national importance, such as Caproni (1911), Aeronautica Macchi (1913), SIAI Marchetti (1915), Aeroplani Romeo (1924) and Ansaldo (1916). It was during the First World War that Italian aeronautical companies initiated a process of industrialisation that led to the production of 12,400 aircraft, including fixed-wing planes and seaplanes: from 17 operational businesses in 1915, this number had risen to 355 by 1918. From the triplane designed by Aristide Faccioli, which took off in Turin in 1909, to the first military flying school at Centocelle that would later become the first Italian airport: these are the “iconic” events that were to give rise to a series of achievements, experiments, passions and victories - also charging the nation's cultural imagination - with a succession of significant impacts in the civil, military, industrial and technological spheres. It is no coincidence that the 20th century has been called the “century of flight” and Italy, with its small and medium-sized enterprises - many of which have now merged to become Leonardo - has been one of the leading players in this story. This short space of time marked the beginning of a long and challenging journey, which led to mankind exceeding the speed of sound in 1947. It was nearly twenty years later, on 17 December 1903, that the story of "heavier than air" flight and innovation in the world of aviation would officially begin: the Flyer built by the Wright brothers, a fragile powered machine made of wood and canvas, flew for 12 seconds - 36 metres - at a speed of 50 kilometres per hour. Forty years earlier, however, the Ministry of War had authorised the establishment of the Servizio Aeronautico in 1884, with the task of managing the first observation balloons. ![]() It was 28 March 1923 when the Air Force became the third independent arm of the Italian armed forces under Article 1 of Royal Decree 645. ![]()
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