Some Italian places, Italy 1995

[planenuts]

Hi chaps,

Back in the days when such tours existed (and I had the time/money/energy/freedom to do them), this one (I think it was Aeroprints) offered quite a lot of places and planes for the buck. Bachelor then..........easy decision.

I looked back at some of those pics and realised how we all took these old types for granted.....F-104 a classic example. I really apologise for some of the quality. These are photos taken of photos (trickier than you think), don't have a scanner. But it's the subject matter that.....matters.

First up, an airshow at Rivolto, home of the Frecce Tricolori.......preserved F-84F in colours of Diavoli Rossi team


Also preserved there T-6H-4M........there was a total of 15 airframes preserved, some in the static, some on the far side (dots)


Slovenian AF PC-9M in original colours, before they went all camo


Slovakian AF Let 410 support a/c for their team


Piaggios, the old and the new.......P-166M and P-180......not everyday stuff


Austrian AF Saab 105.......they were old then, now they're positively ancient.....gotta love those little guys though


Formation of 4 AMXs ?......meh, see it all the time


Sneaked round the back, to find one of these......Italian AF NH-500E


....and one of these......German AF Mig-29


Time for a big chink of W&R......C-119G preserved at the aero club at Campoformido


And straight onto somewhere else.....Aviano. RAF E-3 Sentry......there were 3 of these big boys lined up with the mountains


Local residents......USAF F-16C. We got to go round one half of the base


At the time, several bases in Italy hosted various foreign types for action over the former Yugoslavia, including Spanish AF F-18s


Others just popped in for fuel, like this pair of F-104S Starfighters from 37 Stormo in Trapani, Sicily


Nice..........


On the other side, we only got to see other foreign types from the coach, meaning hasty photos of USN EA-6 Prowlers


And a USAF A-10 from.......(any ideas, MA ?)


Finally, this USN C-130 Hercules took off just at the right moment


Onto Istrana, where they still had a sizeable fleet of AMXs with 51 Stormo. Also there were French Jaguars, but not allowed to snap them


Always thought these were cute, in a Jaguar's younger brother sort-of way.......


Stored line-up of MB326s. I did tell you that photos of photos was a bit tricky........


Ah, that's better......local hot-rod F-104S taxying on the pan, from 51 Stormo


3 of them.......triple the pleasure


Only one of two P-166Ms left in service, they retired the following year.....feel very privileged. Stayed there for a while too. I know why.


That's why. The base commander phoned the tower, for these 2 to buzz us specially. Seeing these over the P-166 was a magic moment.


Let's rattle through some preserved stuff......G-91R near the AMX ramp


RT-33A near the main gate, trying to do an impression of an MB326


Now, was the F-86K Sabre there first, or the hedges ?? Answers please on a postcard.......


Same question, different type......F-84F......hmmm


Next was Villafranca Di Verona, home of AMXs of 3 Stormo.......and some Dutch F-16s. Again, off limits.


Preserved was this RF-84F, and.......


This wierd and wonderful F-104G.....spent ages gawking at the tail


Lastly, an illegal one.......sneaked a piccie of the dump from the coach. There was also a pile of around 20 Starfighters in the distance


Piacenza, home of some yummy camo Tornados.......and temp home to German ones too, but again.......you can guess


This MB326 was stored in a hangar


Along with this 50 Stormo S208M. This sort of thing appeals to me in some ways even more than the jets, as we wont see them over here


Tornado from 50 Stormo taxying for take off


Blast off.......my ears suffered to get this one


Down the road from the airfield is the admin base......part, with this F-84F preserved


Yummy Cervia next. Rows of retired G-91Ys everywhere......was real torture


These have all gone now, probably scrapped, and replaced with F-104s I guess


Oh, baby......didn't exactly have to drag myself across this ramp


Believe I lifted my hands up, and said "Lord, thankyou very much"


This specially-coloured G-91Y was about to be repainted in plain camo (boo !!) and move to the Italian AF museum at Vigna Di Valle


Then they turned it around for us, for a genuine surprise. It left the following week apparently


We were allowed into one of the QRA sheds, and we climbed the steps for a peer into the cockpit


Finally......you know already how I feel about these little guys, but a faded dayglo one.......oh my !!


And now for something completely different. Museum at Cerbaiola, near San Marino. Star item SAIMAN S202M


Fiat G-46-3A. The museum features a right old mixture of types from East and West


Ex-East German Su-22M-4, painted as Russian AF. The aircraft are all parked on terraces on a steep hill


And overlook an amazing view towards the hills of San Marino. P-166M ex-Italian AF


F-84F ex-Italian AF. Sadly, I was there before a Gloster Javelin arrived from Germany. Only one I haven't seen.


A techincal school in Pisa (ITI Da Vinci) holds this nice F-86E, situated across the road from a certain drunk structure.......


This beautiful F-104S was advertising an airshow at the local base. Don't reckon it was a flyer, but did look wonderfully surreal in a fountain


One of our group, in his wisdom, decided to spy some AF G-222s from the civil terminal, lost his passport, and got the whole group in trouble.
As a result, our planned tour of freedom around the arriving static was curtailed somewhat (you know who you are, buddy.....well done).

Preserved C-119G and German Alpha Jet. These photos were the best we could get. Stuck outside a hangar for a while, then kicked out.


G-91Y from 32 Stormo. They retired at the end of the year. A really great sight and sound.


Siai Marchetti SF-260 from 70 Stormo, first one for me.


Other foreign statics........German Phantom and Tornado, and US Navy F-18


Just so we didn't miss any more arrivals, we headed for the end of the runway......Italian AF C-130 local.


AMX-T from 32 Stormo


Czech these guys out.......An-26


Czech AF L-39


Finally, Czech AF Su-25 Frogfoot.......ugly, but juicy. Can't argue with that.........



That's all from me......hope you enjoyed this dolly mixture from a lovely sunny week in a beautiful setting.

Happy snapping chaps,

Rupe

[VIGILANTERA5C]

Great Memories . I seem to remember it wasn't just one guy who got us and I say Us because I was on that tour myself , kicked out of Pisa but about 4 guys from the Midlands direction if I remember correctly . Also remember the "Strange" hotel outside Venice like something from Tales of the Unexpected and watching the comings and goings outside while waiting for the coach , listening to stories of the Night as one Boy on the Coach Claimed to have become a Man overnight !.
Also seem to think that was the one where we had to have a whip around for the coach driver mid tour as he had ran out of funds and was feeling quite Hungry .

Aviano was crammed full of machines going across the Adriatic to bomb the nasty guys , with A10s and F16s fully loaded taking off .

[steved]

Great post. Love all the Wrecks and Relics and the types which are/were rare to the UK. Brilliant.

[postman pat]

Stunning post.A10 from Massachusetts ANG(Thank you,Wikipedia)!

[iainpeden]

That post took some effort to set up so thanks.
I remember watching Dutch F-16s at Verona/Villefranca fully loaded going off to Bosnia while waiting for our BAC 1-11 back to Stansted. The Witch F-104 used to be at the side of the runway and could be seen on approach - I believe it is still there but in a more secluded spot and not visible from the runway. Not sure what condition it's in though.

[Roughcutter]

I was on that trip too, very fond memories, couldn't believe our luck getting into Aviano AB (on a war footing too- even Kate Adie couldn't get in there ), and photographing fully live armed fighters flying out on missions.
And then of course like you mentioned earlier, there was the low point at the end of the week when two daft buggers (who ignored Eric's advice about the authorities) were collared at Pisa, subsequently getting everyone kicked out of the arrivals day there . One of them got nicknamed "the road runner" and the other was a Brummie . Still a great trip all the same and I still have the pix, it was a killer getting there, took about 24 hours on the road. Thanks for sharing.
MarkL

[Nikon John]

And a USAF A-10 from.......(any ideas, MA ?)

Are you sure these are all 1995?

A-10A s/n 78-0647, of the 131stFS/Massachusetts ANG, was in Europe 6 - 19.6.93 as part of the "Coronet Condor" deployment to Ramstein.

John

[planenuts]

Yep, completely sure.......can't remember even which month it was, but it was taken on that trip in 1995.....and that is undeniably Aviano.

Thanks though for confirming its identity.....knowing it's ANG, for me makes it even rarer. Nice one

Chairs, Rupe

[VIGILANTERA5C]

It was the First Week in September 1995 , if you remember the end of the trip was a long Drive back up to Belgium for KB airshow which is listed as the 10th Sept on Scramble .
Also I have the Video of the tour, which Eric took , with date stamps on it and it is as stated above.

If I remember correctly also that drive up into Belgium was of epic and of course Eric proportions . By the way the Lucketts coach driver on that trip was a great guy , very helpful and chatty.

[Georgeconna]

Best post in a while, good Days indeed. Thanks for Taking the time to share these.