The Spectacle of Flight

Italo Balbo's Seaplanes 

In class we discussed the idea of 'soft power' as a tool of expressing prowess, power, knowledge, etc. in a subtle gesture.  I'm going to discuss a major achievement of Italian Fascism in the 1930s that I would consider a subtle gesture of soft power in a big way.  In 1933 Chicago held the Century of Progress Exhibition that invited many national powers to come display their culture, technology, and arts to one another.  Italy at this time were world leaders in aviation as aeronautical engineering was revolutionizing the
world.  National boundaries and physical gaps between nations were dissolving as the airplane allowed us to go all over the world.  One feature flight in particular was when Charles Lindbegrh of America flew an alone flight from New York to Paris in 1927.  This being an example of nations use of the new and incredible feature of engineering that was the airplane to display technological advancements in engineering and as a subtle way to say, "Hey, were better than you."  As Italy's engineers worked harder and harder to make the best aircraft the world could see, Benito Mussolini decided to use them for international propaganda to express Italy's progress through the years.  He used organized mass flights to show the public his progression in leadership and to give them assurance of militaristic power.  However, internationally they had not achieved anything as great as Lindbergh's flight over the Atlantic.  Mussolini saw the Century of Progress Exhibition as the perfect setting to display his aeronautical engineering to the world.  He passed this task on to Italo Balbo, to lead over 20 military style seaplanes over the Atlantic to land in the harbor outside Chicago.  No mass flight of this caliber had been done yet.  *History aside for a second.*   Could you imagine being an American citizen in Chicago at that time as 20 massive Italian sea planes unlike any planes they had ever seen before came landing down in your harbor, knowing they flew over 4000 miles from Rome.  I would have to say that I would be impressed if not in a sense of infatuation with the Italians.  Back to history, this is exactly what Mussolini wanted.  He used airplanes as a multi-sensory tool to evoke emotion in the viewers to forever ingrain into their mind that it was Italy that caused that moment. 

This moment in time was not only a huge moment in visual spectacle and aeronautical engineering, but allowed for more styles of propaganda to come.  Fascism was supported by the Futurist artists, architects, and designers of the period.  Not everyone supported the futurists however, but they're new age propagandistic flyers captured the moment of the flight and Mussolini's leadership through use of photomontage, collage, and typological innovation.  I'm going to discuss one in particular that I think best expressed Italian aviation, Mussolini as "Il Duce," and futuristic style.  Bare with me now, I could not find this photo anywhere on the internet so I snapped a photo from the book I had found it in.  Keep in mind that during this time photography and film were still advancing technologies and this flier was very advanced for the time.  At the top of the image is an S.55 seaplane, one of the planes flown from Rome to Chicago.  Radiating from the propeller are waves of energy growing in scale, with the words Du-Ce inside them.  This typography can be represented in two ways.  One as a recognition to Mussolini for his efforts to put this spectacle into motion or as a representation of radio waves.  Radio being another new form of propaganda.  As the planes were landing back in Italy, F.T. Marinetti, the leader of the futurist movement, spoke over radio to the people of Italy cataloging the event in magnificent language.  The words ITALIA are photomontaged, made up of Italian citizens. This is displaying that Italy is made up of the people above all else, it is the people *literally under* Il Duce who will advance the Italian future.  Below that is a photo of the planes landing back home in Italy. A display of the mass spectacle that shot Italy to the top of the aviation rankings.  The flier, in new age futurist fashion, perfectly encapsulates the great aeronautical achievement while recognizing to the viewer that it was done so under the power of Il Duce and for the Italian people.  Aviation as a tool of propaganda became a very powerful image for the Italians and this moment in particular was one of the most iconic.  I may not know much about fascism but I think they hit the nail on the head with their efforts in propaganda.