The blue participation on Bardolino saw the rehearsals take place on Saturday 20th and the actual air show the following day. In front of over 250 thousand spectators (sources of the organization) who literally blocked the entire area of the Veronese long lake for several hours, above the three kilometers of virtual track designed on Lake Garda, acrobatic aircraft and helicopters (even one of the financial police), a fantastic MB 326 “machine” of the association flies phoenix, an F16 “Solo Display Team” of the belgian air force, with its escape evolutions and the launch of its countermeasures (flares); then our men in blue, welcomed by a truly special closeness and warmth, first with the HH139A helicopter of the 15th Wing that carried out a SAR (Search and Rescue) demonstration by carrying out the recovery with a winch of a castaway from the lake and then with the tricolor arrows which, announced by the Hymn of Mameli sung by all those present, made their entrance on Lake Garda holding the scene for 25 minutes and thrilling all the spectators with their evolutions. On the ground, the commander of the arrows, Lieutenant Colonel Jan Slangen, constantly followed his "Ponies" flying over Lake Garda.
All the military aircraft involved (F16, HH139A and PAN) were deployed as early as Friday at the 3rd Wing of Villafranca which, with the collaboration of ENAC and ENAV of the civil airport, was able to express its capacity for permanent support. The presence of the arrows was also emphasized by the back stage offered to the civil and military authorities of Verona and the province, culminating in the presence of the prefect of Verona Perla Stancari who, with the landlord Colonel Massimo Cicerone, welcomed the arrows at the landing of return from the exhibition on Lake Garda.
The 3 ° Stormo was also present in the exhibition area of the event, on the Bardolino lakefront, where, next to the promotional stand of the Air Force Staff, it was able to exhibit some of the precious assets that make the Stormo a department that constitutes a "unique" having as its mission that of "ensuring the projection of airport logistics capabilities, autonomous, integrable and scalable, sized to support the national integrated force, both on the national territory and outside national borders, both in military operations and in exercises ..."
The Crisis Management Unit - C2 Log is among the assets deployed. & ATM, a rapidly deployable Command and Control structure, with an aviation-transportable Mobile Control Tower and a Tactical Satellite Terminal integrated by two tactical weather stations provided by the 3rd division of the logistic command; from here the 3 ° Stormo while showing some of its abilities also operated live providing the direction of the event with continuously updated weather data.
At 10.30 on Monday the PAN left the 3rd Wing with a goodbye see you soon, perhaps for a possible future joint team building training activity.
Source: 3 ° flock - Villafranca (VR) - Lieutenant Colonel Alessandro Di Muni
