LEGENDARY SPECTACLE

摘要

Gen Italo Balbo - fascist politician, military leader, intrepid aviator - fitted a lot in to his 44 years. To some extent he was emblematic of Italy's Mussolini-era expansionism, but later he turned against Il Duce and urged an alliance with Britain. By then, Balbo was known the world over. As Minister of the Air Force, he led two famous trans-Atlantic flying boat flights, the second of them a 24-ship epic from Rome to Chicago that ended in a hero's welcome. In the US city can be found to this day a street named Balbo Drive, and a monument in his honour. Yet his name also lives on as a term for massed formations of aircraft, and the Flying Legends Air Shows finale is the most famous example. Its Balbo is a remarkable spectacle, one familiar to all who attend The Fighter Collection's annual warbird airshow at IWM Duxford, yet unfailingly impressive.