Rivolto Air Base is an

Italian Air Force The Italian Air Force (; AM, ) is the air force of the Italy, Italian Republic. The Italian Air Force was founded as an independent service arm on 28 March 1923 by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, King Victor Emmanuel III as the ("Royal Air Force ...

(''Aeronautica Militare'') air base located in

Codroipo Codroipo () is a (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Udine, in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about southwest of Udine. Codroipo borders the following municipalities: ...

, province of

Udine Udine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity ...

(

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

). It is the home base of the

Frecce Tricolori The (; ), officially known as the ("313th Acrobatic Training Group, National Aerobatic Team (PAN) Frecce Tricolori"), is the aerobatic demonstration team of the Italian Air Force. Based at Rivolto Air Base, province of Udine, it was created on ...

aerobatic display team. Besides a military airport it is an important air force

Meteorological Service Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture, ...

station. Rivolto Air Base was founded after the Italian Royal Decree N. 2207 of 1923, authorised the establishment of new airports and expropriate land for their construction.

Description

The airport is managed by the Italian Air Force and on the basis of the Ministerial Decree of 25 January 2008, published in the Official Gazette of 7 March 2008, the airport is classified as MOB (Main Operating Base) of the first group and as such performs exclusively military, not being open to commercial traffic. The airport is known above all because it is the seat of the Frecce Tricolori, the Italian national aerobatic team (PAN) and constituting the 313rd Acrobatic Training Group. Seat of the 2nd Wing is named after Mario Visintini, the first of the

flying aces A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace varies, but is ...

of the

Regia Aeronautica The Royal Italian Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') (RAI) was the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Regio Esercito, Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was ...

, decorated with the

Gold Medal of Military Valour The Gold Medal of Military Valor () is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia for deeds of outstanding gallantry in war by junior officers and soldiers. The face of the medal displayed the profile o ...

. Visintini was the top scoring pilot of all belligerent air forces in Eastern Africa (Africa Orientale) and the top biplane fighter ace of World War II; he achieved all his air victories flying the Fiat CR.42 biplane.The 14th Group with

AMX International AMX International Ltd was a joint venture company established to develop, manufacture and market the AMX ground attack aircraft. Established during the late 1970s specifically to produce the AMX, the company initially comprised Italian aircraft ...

AMX fighter-bombers was also based in the Rivolto military airport until 2004. Since 2011 the base has become a national missile hub, while since January 2016 the Rivolto airport has been the reference point for the Integrated University Hospital of Udine for night flights in favor of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Transplant Center. In 2016, thanks to the night activation of the airport, 16 lives were saved. There is also an important meteorological station of the air force

, part of the

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...

(WMO), at the airport.

References

External links

* Italian Air Force Italian airbases Udine {{Italy-airport-stub