AEROMEDIA
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The priest pilot Don Paolo Gariglio has flown higher still

On January 20, 2026, Don Paolo Gariglio, an undisputed figure in Turin's aviation community, passed away. Born in 1939, he was deeply interested in aviation since he was a child. In the late 1930s, he would have gone to watch the air shows held at the Mirafiori and Caselle airfields. He was ordained a priest in 1956. Shortly after the end of the Second World War, he flew for the first time, as a passenger, in a small AVIA FL.3 monoplane.
In the late 1950s, when the Aero Club Torino was still based at the Mirafiori "Gino Lisa" airport, Don Paolo earned his civil pilot's license. His instructor was none other than Commander Ferruccio Vignoli, the director of the Aero Club's flight school. As early as March 1959, the now "flying priest," perhaps inspired by the Australian Royal Flying Doctor's Service, founded the CIAMM - Centro Internazionale di Aviazione e Motorizzazione Missionaria (International Centre for Missionary Motorization and Aviation) to provide healthcare to isolated communities in the world's less fortunate countries. FIAT, the Municipality of Turin, and, of course, the Turin Aero Club were among the first of the many organizations and private individuals who supported the initiative in various ways. Don Paolo was even among the Aero Club's instructors for pilot licenses. The first students to become missionary pilots were four nuns from the Congregation of San Luigi Gonzaga of Cinzano d'Alba. It is a shame that the CIAMM adventure lasted only a few years due to the ill-advised decision to move it to Rome, where soon it ran aground.
Missionary aviation, however, had time to spread to various regions. The first pilots established flight schools in Kenya, the Central African Republic, Nigeria, and Sudan. Many rudimentary landing strips were built near the missions, and proved extremely useful in rescuing the wounded resulting from riots and tribal wars in Africa.
The worthy "flying priest" recalled his extraordinary adventure, as the only priest to have piloted an aircraft, in the book "Missionari con le ali" ("Missionaries with Wings") published by Effatą in 2015. The booklet is dedicated to Father Aurelio Cannizzaro, a missionary in Polynesia, who was his first student pilot in 1958-60 and later leader of the squadron of Xaverian missionary pilots. Don Paolo continued to fly until age allowed.

In the picture: The "flying priest" Don Paolo Gariglio. (Aeromedia Archive)

(Aeromedia, January 2026)