; a short history and query.............................The Arditi Distruttori Aeronautica Repubblicana.
Only another fact of arms was waiting for the ADRA that had remained in Italy. In the north of Lazio still remained about 200 men of the Battalion, attached to the different bases of the Air Force. They, like all, surprised by the armistice of September 8, 1943, at first did not know what to do, then took a firm stand and managed to keep for several days in Italian hands the airports of Tarquinia, Cerveteri and Viterbo avoiding the German control of them.
But later most of the men of the ADRA battalion preferred to proceed northward with their commander, Colonel Dalmas, who in Tradate (a village 15 km from Varese) founded and ran the parachuting school of the Italian Social Republic.
Dalmas managed to gather around him the most able and trustworthy collaborators of those who knew the virtues and merits so that almost all ADRA that remained in Italy after the armistice were faithful to the RSI with their commander, changing the name of the Unit by the ADAR (Arditi Distruttori Aeronautica Repubblicana-Braves Destroyers Republican Air Force). The choice of the ideal place for the new school was in Tradate (Varese), which had good rail and road connections with Milan and was close to the Malpensa, Venegono and Lonate Pozzolo airfields, and finally because the surrounding territory was adequate for the launch of paratroopers and carry out exercises.
Officially, the school began as Group Arditi Paratroopers of the Republican Air Force, organized under his command on November 1, 1943 with elements of ADRA, Folgore and Nembo. The grouping was divided into Commando, Depot, Services, Paratroopers Instruction Center and others: Coy pilots, mainly composed of cadets, Coy Assault Gliders, Coy Veteran paratroopers, which included those already patented and all instructors, Battalion of Parachute Trainers, initially called Arditi destroyers of the Republican Air Force (ADAR) and, since January 15, 1944, Blue Battalion (Battaglione Azzurro), due the color of the air uniform.
Source: http://www.mymilitaria.it/liste_03/tessera_apar.htm
Any combat mission of this unit? Cheers. Raúl M
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