User talk:Doreskies

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=================================== Hi dear, this is the "Petrella Airport" you requested:

Petrella-Mogadiscio aeroporto was the first international airport in Italian Somalia. It was opened in 1928 with the name "Enrico Petrella" in honor of an Italian pilot who died in the same airport of Mogadiscio italiana. Actually it has been improved and is the Mogadishu international airport.

History
The initial Mogadishu airport was established in 1928 with the name "Aeroporto Petrella di Mogadiscio", the first such facility to be opened in the Horn of Africa. It was located nearly 5 km south of Mogadiscio's port: since 1938 a bus service (one of the first in Africa) was connecting the airport with the colonial Italian city and its port. It served as the main military airport serving Italian Somaliland. The "36 Squadriglia Mogadiscio" was based there since 1926 http://www.aeronautica.difesa.it/storiaT... Historical documents: section Somalia; page 11] The airport was the center for Italian air-raids & bombings on southern Ethiopia during the Italian conquest of Abyssinia in 1935-1936. In 1930 the airport was known worldwide because the pilot Francis Lombardi flew from Rome to Mogadiscio in the same flight, obtaining an aviation record http://senato.archivioluce.it/senato-luc... Video showing the Petrella airport and the Lombardi airplane] In the mid-1930s, the airport began offering civilian and commercial flights. http://dspace-roma3.caspur.it/bitstream/... Photo of Petrella-Mogadiscio airport] A regular Asmara-Assab-Mogadishu commercial route was started in 1935, with an Ala Littoria Caproni 133 providing 13-hour flights from the Mogadishu airport to Italian Eritrea. The aircraft had a maximal capacity of 18 passengers, which at the time was a record. In 1936, Ala Littoria launched an intercontinental connection between Mogadishu-Asmara-Khartoum-Tripoli and Rome. The voyage lasted four days and was one of the first long range flights in the world. "In 1934 the Italian aviation in Somalia -under the orders of captain Pocci- was made of the "Squadriglia di Mogadiscio" with 9 Romeo Ro-1, the group that attacked Ual-Ual (starting the 1935 italo-ethiopian war)...Paolo Ferrari, p 308"

In 1939 the Petrella airport was started to be enlarged, but the beginning of WWII blocked the works. During the East African Campaign the airport was greatly damaged.