From 9th to 19th October Valbrembo, a small general aviation airport near Bergamo, Italy, hosted an Italian Air Force Aeronautical Culture Class. It is a class dedicated to 185 high school students that, after a theoretical part, have the chance to fly on Italian Air Force SIAI-Marchetti U-208 liaison and glider tow planes.

On 13th October I had the chance to attend the media day for the aviation news website Md80.it

There were 4 planes: one wearing a standard livery…

…two wearing a special livery dedicated to the Italian Air Force 100th Anniversary…

…and one wearing a special livery dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the Rome-Tokyo raid performed by Arturo Ferrarin in 1920.

Finally it is my turn to perform a short flight with 2 other passengers on board the Ferrarin special livery plane. Until that moment, everybody flew in a 3-ship formation, so I was hoping to take some air-to-air pictures. Unfortunately, we were told that our plane would have flown solo.
I have to say I was quite disappointed, as all other photographers I know had the chance to perform formation flights during similar classes organized elsewhere in Italy.

The pilot performed some wingovers.

Flying above Valbrembo airport. The river on the left is the Brembo river, which gives the name to the valley it passes through (Val Brembana) and to a worldwide famous brake manufacturer located near it.

On short final