1° Gruppo Elicotteri 70 anni di storia / 70 years of history

We cannot talk about Naval Aviation in Italy without knowing the history of the 1^st Gruppo Elicotteri (1^st Helicopter Squadron), the first flying unit to be formed by the Italian Navy. A history that began seventy years ago in Sicily, at Augusta, with the AB.47s, and which continues today in Liguria, at Luni, with the Merlins. The 1^st Gruppo Elicotteri therefore celebrates its 70^th anniversary this year, an anniversary that has seen the unit consistently at the forefront of helicopter operations within the Italian Navy’s Naval Aviation. The history of the 1^st Gruppo Elicotteri (GE) will take you from 1 August 1956 (the date of the 1^st GE’s formation) to the present day through a fascinating series of events, changes in operational procedures and aircraft replacements.

77 b/w and colours photographs

16 reproductions of patches