Commemorative Medal of the Decennial Air Cruise

The Italian Regia Aeronautica ("Royal Air Force") was established in 1923, and to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its founding, the Regia Aeronautica organized the Decennial Air Cruise, a mass transatlantic flight from Orbetello, Italy, to the Century of Progress International Exposition at Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Consisting of 25 Savoia-Marchetti S.55X double-hulled flying boats under the command of General Italo Balbo, it was the first mass flight to cross the North Atlantic. Departing Orbetello on 1 July 1933 and welcomed enthusiastically during stops it made in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Canada, and particularly the United States, the flight was a propaganda success for Fascist Italy.^[1][2][3] The flight returned to Italy with stops in the Dominion of Newfoundland, the Azores, and Portugal before concluding at Rome on 12 August 1933.^[4][5][6]

To grant a special and honorific decoration in memory of participants in the Decennial Air Cruise, the Kingdom of Italy established the Commemorative Medal of the Decennial Air Cruise with Royal Decree Number 1748 of 13 August 1933.^[7] The medal was awarded by the Prime Minister of Italy (officially known as the Head of Government, Prime Minister Secretary of State from 1925 to 1943) in memory of those who had lost their lives during the cruise itself. After deeming the medal obsolete, the Italian Republic abolished it on 13 December 2010.^[8]

Eligibility for the medal extended to personnel who had taken part in the Decennial Air Cruise, either in flight, or aboard ships or at bases in support of the flight. Personnel who otherwise had demonstrated particular merit in preparation for or implementation of the flight also qualified for the medal.