SEPTEMBER 2010 50° FRECCE TRICOLORI

SEPTEMBER 2010 50° P.A.N. RIVOLTO AFB

PHOTO BY DIEGO CROTTI
Copyright (C) Diego Crotti
The Frecce Tricolori (Italian, literally Tricolour Arrows), officially known as the 313° Gruppo Addestramento Acrobatico, is the aerobatic demonstration team of the Italian Aeronautica Militare, based at Rivolto Air Force Base, in the north-eastern Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, province of Udine. They were formed in 1961 as an Air Force team, replacing unofficial teams that had been sponsored by various commands by the end of the 1920s.
The team flies the Aermacchi MB-339-A/PAN, a two-seat fighter-trainer craft capable of 898 km/h at sea level, with nine aircraft and a solo (the highest number of aircraft of any aerobatic team in the world).
The team's official name is:
313. Gruppo Addestramento Acrobatico;
Pattuglia Acrobatica Nazionale (PAN) Frecce Tricolori.
The Frecce Tricolori were not the first AMI aerobatics team: military aerobatics as a group began in Campoformido, home of the 1st Wing, in the late 1920s under the supervision of Col. Rino Corso Fougier (an Italian pioneer in aerobatic group flying). Since then, except in the Second World War period, many fighter wings gave birth to demonstration teams like Cavallino Rampante (Prancing Horse), Getti Tonanti (Thundering Jets), Diavoli Rossi (Red Devils), Tigri Bianche (White Tigers) and Lanceri Neri (Black Lancers). Finally, in 1961, the Air Force General Staff decided to form a single aerobatic team, the Pattuglia Acrobatica Nazionale (National Aerobatic Patrol).
During the 2000 aerobatic season they reached 50,000 flying hours on the MB-339.
In 2005 they won the award for best exhibition at the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford, England (a major military airshow) and they have obtained, for the first time for a non-Russian unit, the Russian Silver Medal for Aeronautical Merit.[3][4] On 8 September 2007 the Frecce Tricolori took part at the funeral of Luciano Pavarotti in Modena and honoured him with a fly-past leaving green-white-red smoke trails.