24 |FLIGHTPATH
TheU.S.Navy in
Luigino Caliarorecountsthelittleknownstoryofaremarkable
Italian-American collaboration at Lake Bolsano at the end of the Great War.
F
romJune1917,aftertheentryof
AmericaintotheGreatWar,theU.S.
Navy sent aircraft and personnel to
Europe to work with the Allies. The
principaltaskoftheU.S.Navycrewsoperat-
ingintheEnglishChannelandNorthSea
sectors was protection of Allied naval con-
voys from German submarines, and numer-
ousbaseswereestablishedalongthecoasts
of Ireland, France, and England for this
task.TheItaliantheatrealsosawU.S.Navy
personnel in combat operations against the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. The role of the
U.S.NavypilotsintheAdriaticsectorwas
differentfromtheircolleagues.
The decision to deploy personnel from the
U.S.NavytoItalywastakeninNovember
1917 following the Italian Government’s offer
totrainsomefiftyaviatorsoftheNavyatthe
Regia Marinatraining facility on Lake Bol-
sena along with two bases for operational
seaplanes. In that period the ItalianAviazi-
one di Marina, undergoing rapid expansion,
wassufferingfromashortageofpersonnel
andsousingqualifiedAmericanaircrewwas
seen as a potential solution to the problem.
Responding to the Italian offer, Captain
HutchCone,CommanderoftheU.S.Naval
Aviation Forces Foreign Service in Paris,
identified Lieutenant John Lansing Callan as
the best officer to organise the activities in
Italy. Callan was at that time in command of
abaseinFrance,andwasfluentinItalian,as
inhispreviouscivilianlifehehadworkedas
aflyinginstructorfortheRegia Marina.
CallanarrivedinRome17December1917,
andquicklysettoworkonorganisingtheop-
erational aspects, working together with the
then Capo of theIspettorato d’Aviazione
della Regia Marina,C.V.LudovicodeFilip-
pi.CallanwasinvitedbyLVCalderaratoin-
spect the training base at Bolsena, then un-
der construction, and De Filippi explained
about the shortage of personnel in theMa-rina,leadingtotheirmakingadetailed
studyoftheuseofPortoCorsiniandPescara
bases by the U.S. Navy. The Americans
wouldbeaskedtoprovideonlytheperson-
nel, their food and clothing, the Italians pro-
viding the rest to operate the aircraft and
the bases.
OnhisreturntoParis,Callanputforward
the Italian proposals, which were accepted
by the Headquarters of the U.S. Navy in Eu-
rope.InFebruary1918,LieutenantCallan
and C.V. de Filippi officially signed the
agreement, the initial step being posting
studentpilotstotheschoolatBolsena.
InApril1918,acommissionformedby
Lieutenant Callan, Lieutenant Willis Havi-
land, Ensign Lawrence White, Paymaster
Omar Conger and Assistant Paymasters
Parker and Solhaug went to Italy to visit the
school at Bolsena and the two potential op-
erationalbasesatPortoCorsiniandPes-
cara. Having visited the various sites, CallanPart One