The intimate but deeply felt ceremony for the renaming of the gliding team of the 60th wing which began with the solemn flag raising and ended with the opening of the new license plate 202 ° flight group.
The ceremony was presided over by the commander of the Air Force schools / 3rd air region, general of the air team Silvano Frigerio, in the presence of all the personnel of the 60th wing and the commanders of the colocated entities.
The renaming of the flight group in 202 ° flight group crowns the process of redefining the entities on the Guidonia site started in 2015 with the establishment of the 60th flock.
Colonel Michele Cesario in his speech underlined how "in more than 60 years of gliding history over the Guidonia airport, the entity responsible for this activity has changed various forms" da gliding section a gliding center and finally the denomination of gliding team. But even the institute tasks assigned to the department were initially linked only to flying and gliding while currently, the renamed 202nd Flight Group, is a real Flight School whose training activity is integrally included in the training process they have to carry out Air Force pilots to obtain the military pilot license. But this important task is accompanied, with equal importance and vigor, by the promotion of aeronautical culture. Colonel Michele Cesario reiterated how "Today we celebrate the present and the future, boasting the name of a historic Group of the Command Schools and treasuring our glider history and tradition and enhancing the various important activities carried out by the 202nd Flight Group and consequently of the entire 60th Wing which participates in various ways”.
The choice of the number 202 is not accidental. The 202 ° flight group it was established on 1 March 1952 at the Alghero airport under the employ of the Cagliari flight school command (Elmas) and, for the territorial part, by the Sardinian aeronautical command. The instructional flight activities were carried out with North American T-6 aircraft and continued until 1 February 1958, when the 202nd GV was placed in square position.
Today, 2 August 2023, the 202nd flight group is reconstituted within the 60th wing inheriting the glories of the gliding team.
General Frigerio, in his speech, underlined how important this renaming of the group is “since the activity you carry out is no longer connected solely and exclusively to gliding, which in any case remains a substantial and fundamental part, but is also characterized by the support to the Aerocooperation School for Close Air Support training activities. The competition in the national air defense training activity as part of the Slow Mover Interceptor activities or even the flight activity for the maintenance of pilot qualifications ready for use for personnel serving at the Air Force General Staff ".
The emotional importance of the day was also emphasized by the memory of Colonel Giuseppe Cipriano and Lieutenant Colonel Marco Meneghello who tragically lost their lives in the accident of March 7 in the skies of Guidonia but who remain an integral part, colleagues and close friends of the pilots of the 202nd flight group.
