The monument in memory of the reserve pilot officers who died in the performance of their duty was inaugurated in the Chapel of the Air Force Academy. The work, created by two internationally renowned artists from Campania, was born from a joint project between the Air Force and the National Association of Fallen and Mutilated Families of the Air Force (A.N.F.C.M.A.).
The ceremony took place in the presence of the commander of the Air Force schools/3rd air region, air team general Silvano Frigerio and the president of the A.N.F.C.M.A., air team general (r) Tiziano Tosi.
In addition to a representation of military personnel from the permanent cadre, there were also the complement pilot sergeants of the 129th AUPC course, regular course attendees and some complement pilot officers in service.
After the Holy Mass, the commander of the Air Force Academy, general of the air division Luigi Casali, thanked general Frigerio and general Tosi for their authoritative presence and those who created the monument “[…] This work will enrich our Church. It was born from a joint project between the Air Force and the National Association of Families of the Fallen and Mutilated of the Air Force and is dedicated to all the reserve pilot officers who unfortunately left us in the performance of their duty".
General Tosi then spoke: “A sincere and profound thank you to all those who worked towards the realization of this work. I was very keen that in this church, where there are the roots and the memory of the fallen of the Air Force Academy, there was... a testimony and the roots of all those secondary pilots who gave their lives flying for our Armed Forces ”.
The final speech was given by General Frigerio “…Here in the church of the Air Force Academy the memory of the deceased converges with our Christianity. With the two plaques where all the fallen sailors of the regular courses are remembered, today we inaugurate the monument dedicated to the complement pilots who gave their lives as an extreme sacrifice". As commander of the Schools I can only be happy that from today, as General Tosi suggested, when we pass through the corridors we can look at the names of the fallen and remember the extreme sacrifice they gave in service to the country.
The monuments to the fallen of the Air Force Academy remember all the colleagues who lost their lives in service and who entered the Air Force starting from the Pozzuoli training institute. The memory of all those killed in service is one of the key principles for the Air Force. The names of all colleagues who lost their lives in the line of duty are engraved in the Shrine of the Three Arches of Palazzo Aeronautica in Rome.
The ceremony continued with the reading of the Prayer of the Aviator, recited by a reserve pilot sergeant and ended with the unveiling of the monument, the blessing by the military hat, Don Fabio De Biase and the laying of a laurel wreath.
The War Memorial is made up of three distinct parts (statue, pedestal and tiles), made of terracotta and finished with a non-homogeneous white high-fire enamelling (around 1000 degrees) which allows a glimpse of the primary terracotta material.
The Statue is a monobloc measuring approximately 215×145 cm with a weight of around 400 kg and depicts an angel with a human face who impersonates the pilot. The gaze turned towards the sky and the arms open in flight represent the passage between earthly life and the afterlife.
The reinforced pedestal, approximately 60 cm high, was designed to increase the stability of the monument and shows, in low relief, the phrase “A pilot never dies, he just flies higher”.
The individually hand-engraved cards bearing the names of all 365 additional pilots who died in the period 1945-2023 were provided by the historical office of the Air Force.
The Air Force Academy is under the command of the schools of the Air Force/3rd Air Region. It is a military institute of higher education of a university nature which has the task of providing for the recruitment and training of young people who aspire to become officers of the Air Force. By attending the regular courses of the Academy you can become a second lieutenant in permanent active service of the Air Force, in the normal role of navigators (pilots) and in the normal role of the weapons, of the aeronautical engineering, of the aeronautical commissary corps and of the aeronautical medical corps. Courses are also held at the Institute for officer students (supplementary pilots and navigators and fixed positions) and directly appointed second lieutenants (both in the Normal Role and in the Special Role); finally, in the Academy's study plan, courses with a specialist aeronautical connotation are foreseen, for foreign personnel and other Armed Forces.
