A day in the life of the 36° Stormo of Gioia del Colle

After publishing the photostory named “A day in the life of the 9° Stormo of Grazzanise“, an article to provide a snapshot about the 9° Stormo and Grazzanise airbase in a day of 2003, and “A day in the life of the 5° Stormo of Cervia“, with all the pictures shot in the home of the Italian Vipers of the 23° Gruppo in Feb. 2004, I publish a new “A day in …..” photostory, with the pictures were taken at Gioia del Colle in Sept. 2004 during a 2 day visit I made to prepare an article that was published on Rivista Aeronautica (that you can read here in Italian). They are interesting because in that period, the local based 36° Stormo was made of 2 Gruppi on 3 aircraft types: the 156° Gruppo, equipped with the Tornado IDS, and the 12° Gruppo, that was returning the Tornado F.3 leased by the Royal Air Force (but was still flying them) and was converting to the SMI (Slow Movers Interceptor) role with the MB-339CD, “on loan” from the 61° Stormo (212° Gruppo).

Here just a selection of the about 250 pictures you will find in the gallery by clicking here: http://lowpassage.com/2009/03/30/36-stormo-gioia-del-colle-sept-2004/

















About David Cenciotti
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.