Mass Formation Flight from Italy to America and Back - 1933
- vor 13 Jahren
Crociera Nord Atlantica - 1933.
On the first flight, from 17th December 1930 to 15th January 1931, twelve Savoia Marchetti S.55X left from Orbetello to face a 10,400 Km route to Rio de Janeiro; in the second, from 1st July to 12th August 1933, he comanded twenty-four seaplanes to the United States. He was welcomed like a hero and his triumph was almost unprecedented in history. The 7th Street in Chicago was named after him, President Roosevelt invited him to lunch, and the Sioux Indian tribe appointed him chief, with the name of "Flying Eagle".
Balbo received a warm welcome in the United States, especially by the large Italian-American populations in Chicago and New York. At a cheering mass in Madison Square Garden he told them, "Be proud you are Italians."
He received the same great honors upon his return. In Rome, he and his airmen paraded under Constantine's Arch and Balbo was elevated to the rank of Air Marshal.
On the first flight, from 17th December 1930 to 15th January 1931, twelve Savoia Marchetti S.55X left from Orbetello to face a 10,400 Km route to Rio de Janeiro; in the second, from 1st July to 12th August 1933, he comanded twenty-four seaplanes to the United States. He was welcomed like a hero and his triumph was almost unprecedented in history. The 7th Street in Chicago was named after him, President Roosevelt invited him to lunch, and the Sioux Indian tribe appointed him chief, with the name of "Flying Eagle".
Balbo received a warm welcome in the United States, especially by the large Italian-American populations in Chicago and New York. At a cheering mass in Madison Square Garden he told them, "Be proud you are Italians."
He received the same great honors upon his return. In Rome, he and his airmen paraded under Constantine's Arch and Balbo was elevated to the rank of Air Marshal.