It is officially the 313º Acrobatic Training Group of the Italian Air Force, but we all know them with the much more fascinating name of Frecce Tricolori. There National Acrobatic Patrol (PAN), which flies over the Italian skies on the occasion of great anniversaries, leaving behind trails of green, white and red, like those of the Italian flag, is today exactly 60 years old. The special group was in fact established on 1 March 1961, following the decision of the Air Force itself to create a permanent group for the collective aerobatic training of its pilots.
With ten aircraft (since 1982 they have used the Aermacchi MB.339 A/PAN MLU as aircraft, with operational headquarters at the Rivolto airport in the province of Udine), of which nine in formation and one solo, the Frecce Tricolori are the largest aerobatic team in the world, and their flight program, including about twenty stunts lasting about half an hour, has made them famous and recognized as one of the best aerobatic air teams internationally, performing stunts all year round. Unmissable are those on the occasion of the great institutional celebrations, from the Republic Day of 2 June to the ceremonies of sporting events hosted on national soil.
The Frecce Tricolori have three stunt execution programs: high, low, and flat, depending on the weather conditions and the characteristics of the exhibition area. The program high it is chosen when the cloud base is above 1.000 meters and is characterized by the execution of the acrobatic figures entirely on the vertical plane; the program Bass instead it is preferred when the clouds do not exceed 500 – 600 m and vertical maneuvers are not performed (such as looping or the bomb); finally, the variant dish provides for low-altitude formation passages. At best, planes are capable of draw a 5 km long tricolor in the sky.
