The Italian Aerospace Information Web
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“100 Years of Italian Flight at Venaria Reale!”

With this phrase, including the exclamation mark, the Italian Army's 34th Gruppo Squadroni “Toro” worthily celebrated the centenary of the first flight of an Italian aircraft. Painted on one of the Unit’s helicopters, it is a sober but effective phrase, in the typical, dour “Piedmontese-style”. And it would have surely been appreciated by Aristide Faccioli, to celebrate his not-so-secondary historic record.

Italy has many claimants to its “Cradle of Aviation” but the Turin-born Faccioli was the first to take up the tools and wholly manufacture the first “Made in Italy” aircraft - a triplane – for which he also made the engine! Behind a great man there is always a great woman: in this case his wife - unfortunately her name was not documented – who cut and sewed the fabric for the aircraft, as reported by no less a poet-aviator than Gabriele d’Annunzio in person.

The Faccioli’s formed a real family-managed aviation firm. Their son Mario, born in 1885 and with no previous flying experience, was appointed as the “test pilot” for the new and fragile handmade machine. Apparently, there were no other volunteers for this delicate task.

So, on January 13, 1909, the Faccioli N° 1 triplane took to the air at Turin’s Mirafiori hippodrome, eagerly watched by a small crowd, and made history. The aircraft almost landed safely, were it not for the (blameless) lack of skill of the willing but inexperienced pilot, who, like the aircraft, was making his first ever flight!

Faccioli “father” was not discouraged by the landing misfortune and, with the typical Turinese perseverance, returned to his shop (and his wife to her scissors) to build the Faccioli N° 2, destined to become the first biplane “Made in Italy”. Between May and June, 1909, the new aircraft flew successfully, taking off and landing in the lawns surrounding the “Reggia Sabauda” (the Royal Family’s magnificent Summer Palace) at Venaria Reale.

Today, the aviation tradition of Venaria Reale - now part of Greater-Turin - is entrusted to the 34th Gruppo Squadroni “Toro” of the Army Aviation Corps.

However, following another “robust” landing, the Faccioli N° 2 was put to one side. But, as early as February 12, 1910, the new Faccioli N° 3 was flying over Venaria Reale. The new biplane was a 6.70 meter-span canard, powered by a 25 HP single-cylinder engine. Unfortunately, this aircraft had almost as short a life as its predecessors, lasting less than a month. “More or less typical for the attrition level of the pioneering age”, stated a hardened press officer of our days.

Suddenly, in early 1910, the Faccioli family moved their enterprise to Cameri, a new airfield roughly midway between Turin and Milan. The true reason for the move to Cameri is not known, but some sources mention disagreements with the Military Authorities who owned and operated the Venaria Reale grounds.

In this pioneering age, Cameri was becoming established as a highly active aviation center. It attracted a fair number of designers, would-be-pilots, wealthy businessmen looking for new investments and, needless to say, many young upper class ladies, “belle époque” style, seeking new emotions. In this stimulating environment, the undaunted Aristide Faccioli began to build his fourth aircraft, a biplane, this time with a forward stabilizer. In the following July, with Mario Faccioli as usual at the controls, the “Faccioli N° 4” took off and began its surprisingly long flying career. Not long after this, on October 15, 1910, “Pilota Aviatore Civile” Mario Faccioli was granted his well deserved “Brevetto di pilota italiano - N° 21” (Italian Pilot’s Licence - N° 21). It is somewhat curious to think that he had test-flown four different prototypes long before he formally obtained his pilot’s licence!

The Faccioli’s continued with their outstanding aeronautical activity till the beginning of WW1. Thanks to their many accomplishments, their name, written in golden letters, stands in the annals of the Italian aviation pioneering age.

Dear Faccioli’s, please forgive us! With typical Turinese “understatement”, these century-old achievements have passed by almost unnoticed, if not for some generic quotations, just to emphasize the meaning of events such as the recent FAI World Air Games, held in Turin in 2009. We will try harder in 2109!

In the picture: Front view of Agusta/Bell AB 205A-1 gate guardian of 34th Gruppo Squadroni AVES “Toro” with the “100 anni di volo italiano a Venaria Reale!” inscription. Venaria Reale Airport (Turin, Italy), November 3, 2009. (Aeromedia)

(Aeromedia, November 2009)