JS(CC)37d RAF cover commemorating the links between the Italian Air Force and Ferrari cars - through the Prancing Horse logo of Italian WWI fighter ace Francesco Baracca whose mother gave Enzo Ferrari the canvas artwork for good luck which then appeared on his cars.

The cover commemorates the 75th Anniversary of the Italian Air Force / Centennial of Enzo Ferrari’s Birth and depicts Italian aircraft and Scuderia Ferrari cars; the design shows the link between the Prancing Horse of Maj Baracca and that of Enzo Ferrari.  The cover bears 16c Belgian Alfa Romea P2 racing car in 1925 stamp cancelled with Brussels postmark for the Centennial of Enzo Ferrari 3.3.98.

The cover has been handsigned by Tony Brooks and Cliff Allison who were both successful Formula 1 drivers and who both drove for Enzo Ferrari in the 1950s.

Tony Brooks was born 25 February 1932.  Tony was regarded as a quiet, thoughtful and high-talented racer by many, started his career driving a Healey Sliverstone in 1952 and had his first single-seater drive in 1955.  Later that year he became famous overnight when in his first Formula 1 race he won at the Scyracuse GP, in Sicily driving for Connaught’s works team and beating the Maseratis.  In 1956 he moved to BRM, however, enjoyed little success but had some success in both sports cars and Formula 2.  The following year was the turning point in Tony’s career as he swapped his BRM for a Vanwall, where he finished second in Monaco and shared the winning car with Stirling Moss at the British Grand Prix at Aintree.  The following season Tony went on to win a further 2 Grand Prix races and was offered a drive for Ferrari in 1959, where he won another 2 Grand Prix races and came runner-up in the World Championship. Tony left the Ferrari team to drive for Yeoman Credit Coopers in 1960 and in 1961 drove for BRM before retiring at the end of the season.  During this time he also enjoyed fruitful years with the Aston Martin sports car team, winning the Nurburgring 1000 kms in 1957 and Goodwood TT in 1958.   At the end of Tony’s career he had raced a total of 38 Grand Prix races, having achieved 3 poles positions, 3 fastest laps and wining 6 races between 1956-1961.

Cliff Allison started racing in 1952 in F3 Coopers, progressing to the works Lotus 11 in 1955. His F1 career started in 1958, driving the Lotus 12, with credible finishes, including 4th place at Spa-Francorchamps. For the 1959 & 60 seasons he raced the D246 for Ferrari, finishing second in the Argentine GP at Buenos Aires in 1960. The same year, Allison won the Argentina 1000 km sports car race co-driving a Ferrari with Phil Hill. He returned to Lotus for 1961 but injuries curtailed a promising career. Allison gained all of his 11 GP points driving the Ferrari D246.

MAJOR FRANCESCO BARACCA - SPAD XIII
Francesco Baracca was the top Italian Fighter Ace of The Great War.  He achieved the first ever aerial victory by an Italian flying the French Nieuport fighter which was among the leading aircraft of its time and one of the first dedicated fighters.  It served with every Allied Nation and in Italy, aircraft of this type were built under license by Macchi.  Flying the Type II "Bebe", Francesco Baracca took of from Santa Catarina (Udine) on 17 April 1916 and attacked an Austrian Brandenburg C1 observation aircraft and, with a 45-round burst, forced it to land in a field near to Medea (Gorizia).  Baracca was a resolute, careful and determined pilot.  His attention extended to personal preparation of ammunition belts to avoid the common problem of gun jamming.  Leaving nothing to chance and carefully studying his aircraft and that of the enemy, he was a forerunner of ‘scientific fighting’.  The Spad was considered the most complete fighter aircraft of The Great War.  Strong and fast, it was favoured by Baracca who scored the majority of his victories in it.  The Spad VII and VIII used by Italy were imported from France.  Baracca's Spad carried the black Prancing Horse emblem on a white background which is now used by the 9o Stormo to which the 91st Squadrigla belongs.  Pilots achieving 5 or more victories were considered ‘Aces’.  The top scoring Italian Ace was Major Francesco Baracca who scored 34 victories, before being killed in combat on 18 June 1918.  Baracca, the Commander of 91st Squadrigla (nicknamed the "Squadron of Aces"), was awarded a prestigious Gold Medal for his achievements.  He was also given money which he donated to the Red Cross.

ITALIAN AIR FORCE - De HAVILLAND VAMPIRE FB 5
Following the easing of 1947 peace conditions, 13 nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty charter on 4 April 1949.  The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was born, with Italy amongst the founders.  NATO’s concept of mutual military aid led to a redefinition of member countries’ military structures and to a defensive arms build-up.  Initially aid was in the form of United States P-47 Mustang and P-51 Lightning aircraft.  However, the world’s leading air forces had already transitioned to jet aircraft.  Following market research, the Italian Air Force elected to build the single-seat De Havilland DH 100 Vampire fighter under British License.  The first batch of aircraft were built by De Havilland but the remaining 150 were built in Italy.  This programme involved the country’s entire aviation industry, co-ordinated under a singe contractor (Fiat).  ‘Operation Vampire’, as it became known, utilised assembly lines in Turin and Varese.  The first Vampires reached Italy in February 1950; the adoption of jet aircraft brought about great changes, both for the modernisation of the Italian aviation industry and the upgrade of the Air Force organisation.  The majority of Vampires were deployed to Amendola (Foggia) where pilots underwent jet conversion.  The base, nicknamed ‘Vampiria’ was the first to be organised on Allied Standards.  The buoyant years of exciting rebirth remain unforgotten in the history of Aeronautica Militaire.

ENZO FERRARI - ALFA ROMEO RL3000
Enzo Ferrari was born on 18 February 1898 in the outskirts of Modena;  his father owned a small metalworks, constructing axles and roofs for Italian railways rolling stock.  Enzo’s ambition was to be a racing driver and he learnt to drive at the age of 13.  He was conscripted into the Italian Army during The Great War but was invalided out and gained employment as a vehicle tester.  He competed in his first automobile race in 1919, migrating to Alfa Romeo and winning the occasional race.  The Prancing Horse was presented to Enzo Ferrari in 1923 but it was with the formation of Scuderia Ferrari in 1929 that this emblem became inseparable.  Enzo Ferrari made his mark as a team driver, and later manager, for Alfa Romeo racing cars.  In the ensuing decade he was leader of Scuderia Ferrari, an independent concern that built and raced modified Alfas.  After World War II, he began producing dual-purpose sports/racing cars of his own design, assisted by the patronage of Enrico Nardi.  Ferrari had set up a small workshop in Maranello, Modena to manufacture a limited number of cars that were virtually all custom built by hand.  For almost 20 years the Team tuned and raced Alfa Romeos as their official team but it was not until 1947 the Ferrari built his own cars, initially for sports racing and later for Formula 1.  Some 50 years on Ferrari is now a legend having achieved phenomenal success in all forms of motor racing.  Ferrari’s son Dino, after whom several cars were named, died and this had a profound effect on his father.  Sports and racing cars remained his lasting interest until his death.  He left a tradition of Italian racing which remains today in F1.

ALBERTO ASCARI - FERRARI 500
Being the son of the star driver Antonio Ascari, who won the 1924 Italian Grand Prix heading an Alfa Romeo P2 1-2-3-4 victory, in company with Enzo Ferrari, Alberto Ascari was assured to be brought up in a motor racing environment.  Despite his father’s death in a racing accident at Monterey in 1925, Alberto still followed in his father’s footsteps.  After initial success in racing motor cycles in the late 1930s, Alberto moved on to sports car races in 1940.  His first win came in 1948 when he drove the brand new Maserati 4CLT/48 to victory at San Remo.  Further success followed with Maserati but in 1949 Ascari moved to Ferrari and finished the season as Italian champion having scored victories at Berne, Bari, Silverstone, Reims and Buenos Aires, Nurburgring, Reims, Rome - Vallenunga, Luxembourg, Garda, Mons and Modena.  In 1950, the Formula 1 World Championship began; although the Alfa Romeo 159 Alfetta continued to dominate, Ascari in Ferrari V12s made a significant challenge.  In particular he won at Nurburgring and Monza in the Ferrari 375.  The 1952/3 Championships were run for Formula 2 cars, to permit teams to revitalise themselves for the 1954 season when larger 2500cc engines were due to be introduced.  The Ferrari 500 had a non-supercharged 4-cylinder (500cc each) in line engine, fed by a pair of twin choke Weber carburettors, producing 170 bhp at 7000 rpm. Although not terribly sophisticated, the car was extremely reliable and very rarely beaten.  In the 1952 season, Alberto Ascari achieved 6 consecutive wins in the Ferrari 500 and took the World Championship by a clear margin from fellow driver Guiseppo Farina.  1953 was a similar story with Ascari's 4 wins providing him a second championship, this time ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio in the Maserati A6GCM.  Ascari left Ferrari to drive for Lancia in 1954 but the D-50s were not ready until the end of the season.  In 1955, Ascari won 2 non-championship events but was unsuccessful on the Grand Prix scene.   On 26 May 1955, following a relatively minor accident at Monte Carlo, he tried out a 3.0 litre Ferrari sports car at Monza; he died having overturned after losing control in the Curva Vialone.  He was aged 36, exactly the same as his father.  He will be long remembered for getting Ferrari started on its long run of successes in World Championship motor racing, and for making the Ferrari 500 the most successful Ferrari Grand Prix car and for being the most successful Italian driver in the history of motor sport.