71° Gruppo – Pratica di Mare – 2004 – 20.000 hours on the P.166DL3
On Apr. 6, 2009, at 03.33AM LT, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the Abruzzo region, in central Italy, killing more than 200 people, causing entire buildings to collapse and leaving 17.000 people homeless.
Reconnaissance missions were performed by an AMX of the 51° Stormo from Istrana and by one of the last P.166DL3 APH belonging to the Pratica di Mare-based 14° Stormo. The DL3, that can be fitted with Leica RC-20 and RC-30 (modified in order to mitigate the effects of the movement) performed an aerophotogrammetric mission aimed to the photographic survey of the areas hit by the earthquake. In the last years, as the following images (displayed by the 71° Gruppo in 2004 during the celebrations for the 20.000 hours on the “Piaggione”) show, the aircraft was often involved in missions aimed to the update of the land cartography or to the photographic survey of a portion of territory as a result of natural calamities, even if they have also been employed in reconnaissance missions in support of the Police or for the survey of building abuses. Following are pictures of the P.166DL3 of the 71° Gr that I took on Jul. 7, 2004, when the Squadron celebrated the 20.000 hours on the type.
An article on the missions of the 71° Stormo (2007 – 2008) can be read here: “71° Gruppo: Master of many tasks”.
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