Origins

The 2º Stormo "Aeropani da Caccia" (2nd Wing "Fighter Aircraft") was born in Turin on December 25th, 1925, made up of the following Units:

• 7º Gruppo (Squadron) with the Squadriglie (Flights) 76ª, 84ª, 86ª and 91ª;

  Base: Ciampino (Rome)

  Aircraft: Fiat CR-1 and Macchi-built Nieuport Ni-29

• 8º Gruppo with the Squadriglie 92ª, 93ª, 94ª and 95ª;

  Base: Mirafiori (Turin);

  Aircraft: Macchi-built Nieuport Ni-29 and Ansaldo AC-2

• 13º Gruppo with the Squadriglie 77ª, 78ª, 82ª and 85ª;

  Base: Venaria Reale (Turin);

  Aircraft: SPAD XIII and Fiat CR-1;

All these Units could boast glorious traditions dating back to the World War I, like the 91ª Squadriglia, also known as "the Squadriglia of Aces", in which served Francesco Baracca, Fulco Ruffo di Calabria and Ferruccio Ranza, all aces of World War I.

Macchi-built Nieuport 29 of 91ª Squadriglia
Thanks to Mike Fletcher http://mars.ark.com/~mdf

At the beginning these Units were equipped with different types of aircraft: a first attempt to standardize the flight line was made in 1926 when the Nieuport 29s and SPAD XIIIs were phased out and replaced by the Fiat CR 1 type. Then, on January 10, 1927, the 7º Gruppo left the 2º Stormo and was replaced by the 23º Gruppo (with the Squadriglie 74ª,75ª,79ª and 83ª) equipped with Nieuport 29 and Fiat CR1 thus returning to a certain heterogeneity.

The flight line underwent continuous changes: in January 1929 the 13º Gruppo was totally equipped with Fiat CR 1, while the 8º and 23º Gruppo temporarily quit their flight activities because both AC2s and AC3s originated some serious accidents due to structural weakness; for this reason AC2s were radiated while AC3s took service again after being overhauled and their structure beefed up. Since they continued to be considered unsafe, they were replaced, at the end of the year, by the Fiat CR20.

An important modification of the structure of the Stormo took place on January 15, 1931: in fact, the 23º Gruppo left the Stormo together with the 85ª Squadriglia (from 13º Gruppo) and 95ª Squadriglia (8º Gruppo) to form the new 3º Stormo based at Cinisello (Milan).

At this date the 2º Stormo was made up of:

• 8º Gruppo with the 92ª, 93ª e 94ª Squadriglia;
• 13º Gruppo with the 77ª, 78ª e 82ª Squadriglia.

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