On October 22nd I visited Grazzanise to fly with the AB.212ICOs of the locally based 21st Gruppo. I spotted in the former 10th Gruppo apron a new F-104 that is being restored in the 22nd Gruppo markings. Here are the pictures of the aircraft wearing serial MM6507 and code 51-01 (the first image was taken from the helicopter’s window) and a general view of the F-104 boneyard with some of the remaining airframes.
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
