At the military ceremony took part the commander of the air forces of the Navy, rear admiral Giorgio Gomma, the maritime commander Sicily, rear admiral Roberto Camerini, and the commander of the base, captain of vessel Andrea Cottini; in addition, there were civil, military and religious authorities, as well as a large representation of veterans of the flight.
On the same day, a historic photographic journey was inaugurated that will allow guests to retrace the history of the Second Helicopter Group, rich in events and based mainly on flight by sea and naval units of the Navy of yesterday and today.
At the end of the ceremony we heard the commander of the air forces of the Navy, rear-admiral Giorgio Gomma, who told us: “For me it is an extraordinary joy to be here in Catania. Catania is a bit of a transit point for all pilots. I too was born here as a naval aviation pilot so it is a great honor for me to remember these fifty years of history. Catania, like all the other bases like Luni and Grottaglie, makes an extraordinary contribution not only to the Marina but I would also say to the country. Every day - even now while we are talking - there are ships with helicopters boarded that operate with great effectiveness and are really doing a miracle, an extraordinary thing because they are working to save lives. Every year, hundreds of poor people are rescued every day from truly dramatic situations. I cannot but be proud of all that the men and women of the air forces are doing with great sacrifice, with great self-sacrifice and clearly with great professionalism ".
We also heard the commander of the Maristaeli base, Captain Cottini, who told us: “The second group of helicopters is fifty years old and follows the fifty years of last year's base. I did a part of my career in the second group, I made it the commander and I'm attached to this department. It is a group of people dedicated to the community. We see it in this period with Mare Nostrum as we have seen it in the past with support activities for populations that have suffered natural disasters on Etna and we are totally proud of them. He was the second of the groups established in the Navy and we wish him another fifty years of life. There will be a change of helicopters from the 212 ab in the space of three years we will pass to the new SH90: the last jewel produced in Italy by the Agusta company ”.
We asked the commander of the second helicopter group, frigate captain Roberto Petruzzi about these fifty years of activity of the helicopter group stationed in Catania. “We are young people in our fifties also because we see the future with great enthusiasm. From these fifty years we take the experience that our predecessors give us and we really look with a lot of hope and a lot of sense of duty. Each operation has its difficulties. Clearly Mare Nostrum has an unparalleled human aspect ”.
Except for Pappalardo
