Festivity included various activities between September 25 and 29
Air Force Agency – UNIFA, by Colonel Coutinho and Lieutenant Pollyana
On September 26, the Air Force University (UNIFA) celebrated its 40th anniversary. To celebrate this emblematic date, the Military Organization held a number of activities between 25 and 29 September, including a Solemn Mass; the Efficiency Cup Tournament, between teams made up of military and civilian personnel; the Choice of Outstanding Professionals; the Choice of War Cry and an Essay Competition with the theme “The life, works and values of Santos Dumont”.
The week of festivities was crowned with a military ceremony, held on September 29 at the historic Marechal Fontenelle Auditorium. The event was distinguished by the presence of the President of the Deliberative Council of the Clube de Aeronáutica do Rio de Janeiro, Air Brigadier Paulo Roberto Cardoso Vilarinho, and was presided over by the Chief of Staff of the General Staff Command, Air Brigadier Fernando César da Costa e Silva Braga.
[Click here to download the original image] Also present were the Commander of the War College (ESG), Vice-Admiral Gilberto Santos Kerr; the Director of Aeronautical Education, Major General Sérgio Rodrigues Pereira Bastos Junior; the Commander and Rector of UNIFA, Major General José Virgílio Guedes de Avellar; the Director of Air Force Personnel Administration (DIRAP), Major General Luiz Guilherme da Silva Magarão, as well as General Officers from the active and reserve branches of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), and Commanders, Chiefs, Directors and Mayors of Military Organizations of the Afonsos Air Force Garrison.
During the ceremony, the Outstanding Professional and Academic Awards were honored, as well as the author of the War Cry and the students with the best essays about the Father of Aviation.
[Click here to download the original image] In a special moment, an institutional video about UNIFA was shown, and then the former Commanders of the University, Air Major Brigadier Antônio Luiz Rodrigues Dias, Air Major Brigadier Stefan Egon Gracza and Air Brigadier Luís Renato de Freitas Pinto, were honored by the current Commander and Rector of the University.
Finally, the Military Medals for length of service were awarded to the military personnel who had received these distinctions and, for the first time, the personnel shouted the new UNIFA War Cry.
In his Order of the Day, the Commander and Rector of UNIFA, Major General Avellar, pointed out that the Air Force University celebrated its 40th anniversary in the same year that the Father of Aviation celebrated his 150th birthday. “In this way, I recall the words of Alberto Santos Dumont, when he said that ‘To invent is to imagine what no one offers; it is to believe in what no one has sworn; it is to risk what no one has dared; it is to accomplish what no one has tried. To invent is to transcend’,” he said. [Click here to download the original image]
Still according to the Brigadier, it was with the same innovative, daring and persevering spirit of Santos Dumont that motivated the Ministry of Aeronautics to create, on September 26, 1983, the Air Force University, which today has the mission of promoting the academic and professional post-training of military personnel and civilians, through teaching, research and extension, with a view to developing the Brazilian Aerospace Power. “This University couldn’t be anywhere else than in this historic Campo dos Afonsos, sacred ground that inherited the feeling that prevailed at the beginning of the last century, of innovation and the exercise of sovereignty. It is precisely its staff – teaching, student and administrative – who synergistically build paths and drive UNIFA towards excellence,” concluded the General Officer.