Footage of Italian Air Force display falsely linked to Indian Independence Day

This article is more than one year old.
Published on August 23, 2023 at 11:59
3 min read
By Uzair RIZVI, AFP India

Footage of an air show with planes leaving behind a tri-colour trail of smoke has surfaced in posts falsely claiming it was filmed at Indian Independence Day celebrations in August. The video actually shows Italian Air Force pilots showcasing the national flag to mark the Italian Air Force's centenary near Rome.

"Wonderful performance by Indian Air Force pilots on independence day," says a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The post was shared on August 17, two days after India marked its annual Independence Day celebrations.

Screenshot of the false post taken on August 21, 2023.

The clip was also shared in Facebook posts here and here falsely linking it to Indian Independence Day.

A Google reverse image search of keyframes from the video found the same clip in a YouTube Short video about an air show in Italy (archived link).

The clip, posted on June 18 by a channel called 'Italian Explorer', tags the Italian Air Force's YouTube channel @AeronauticaMilitareOfficial (archived link).

'Italian Explorer' posted the same video on Instagram on the same day, with a caption saying it shows celebrations for the Italian Air Force's centenary at Pratica di Mare, which is a military airport south of Rome (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in false posts (left) and the Italian Explorer's YouTube video (right):

Screenshot comparison of the clip shared in false posts (left) and the Italian Explorer's YouTube video (right)

The Italian Air Force celebrated its centennial with an air show on June 17 and 18, according to its website (archived link).

Its official X and YouTube accounts also posted photos and videos from the air show, where planes are seen ejecting smoke depicting the green, white and red colours of the Italian national flag (archived links here, here and here).

India's flag similarly has stripes but in saffron, white and green. (archived link).

The owner of the Italian Explorer social media channels Fabio -- who did not want to give his last name -- told AFP he shot the video falsely shared as footage from Indian Independence Day celebrations.

He said he filmed the footage at Pratica di Mare airport on June 17.

"I was invited by the Aeronautica Militare Italiana to create content for the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Aeronautica Militare at the Military Airport Pratica di Mare in Rome," he told AFP on August 19.

"The music in the video is of renowned Italian musician Luciano Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma" (archived link).

An invitation to the event seen by AFP shows Fabio was among the guests invited.

Meanwhile, a two-and-a-half-hour video shared on YouTube by the President of India's official channel shows no such display at Independence Day celebrations in August (archived link).

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