South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-03-26
ITALY TO LAUNCH
AIR PROGRAM FOR
WORLD SUPREMACY
Nation Inaugurates Two In
ternational Cup Races to
Boost Interest.

ROME. March 25-The italian
ministries OF war. navy and aeronau-
tics fs expected soon 20 launch
definite program that win have for
object the making OF Italy one OF
the b.r ccuters Of international avn
alton
Despite the almost unrivaled prog
rrss which Italian aviation, naval.
marine as well as commercial has
made. italy has only figured In in
ternationaI aviation hy competing In
events held in other countries. Here
after. italy intends 90 bring interna-
t.onaI aviation onto her own home
grounds. where besides competing
with mere individual machines she
will have an opportunity Of show
ing her fun accomplishments, de-
vel0pmeut and equipment I'm the
matter or aviation.
AS the first steps towards this end
italy has just iHaugurated two am
uual international cup races. which
wiz he flown for the first time, at
least. ou home grounds and home
waters While they viii probably be
flown ir the future in the countries
OF the cup winners, Italy hopes not
only 10 keep the cups at home a
good portion of the time but % bring
other international aviation meets -
italy by means of winning the cup
or other prize.
International Event.
The two annual events which Italy
win launch I'm 1922 are the Grand
italian cup and the Grand Tyrarean
cup. The first one viii be for air
planes and The latter for hydro
planes. but both ct the commercial
type
They viii be flown over courses Of
al least zoe l,ilometers. Besides the
question of speed other elements 90
be considered especially in deter
mining the character of the planes
entering will be that Of their trans
portatiOn capacity security and their
economic possibilities.
Besides the cups themselves which
viii pass each year from winner TO
winner. each race win carry with il
a first prize of 10000 lire and
second prize Of 10000 lire.
Two other international aerial
events have also been inaugurated
by tho Italian government both OF
which viii have their initial flights
i'm italy during 1922. The first Of
these viii be races OF paraChutes
dropped from airplanes. the pro-
gram Of events being worked out
for his international contest will
carry premiums aggregating half
million lire.
The object of this competition is
10 develop and show the possibilities
of the parachute as "a measure of
safety in aerial navigation as well as
q means of communicating by di-
rect descent from airplanes which
continue their course.
Finally still, a fourth international
competition Will be that Of gas bal
looms Premiums for the latter will
DE offered up 20 10000 lire. The eX-
CeIIent showing made by the Italian
teams and balIons i'm the Gordon
Bennett cup races i'm Belgium this
year was one of the determining
factors fin inducing the Italian gov
eminent 20 put ON this international
event as well.
While an of the above events viii
be backed by the Italian government
and the three ministries most d.
rectly interested I'm aviation, they
viii be carried out under the general
direction of the Italian Aerial club.
I'm the meantime the Italian gov
ment viii offer every encouragement
and help 10 Italian aviators 20 win
ass many international cups as pos
sibIe in order that the great bulk of
the international aerial meets may
be brought 10 Italy. Towards the end
of December. aviators from the
italian marine aviation hope 90 es-
tabIish n new record for the Niche
lin cup which viii insure that event
for italy for 1922.