The 4° Stormo of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF), based in Grosseto, was the first Eurofighter unit to obtain the NATO Quick Response Force certification after results that were achieved during the first operational evaluation made by a NATO evaluation team. The operational evaluation was held between Jun. 10 and Jun. 19, 2009, during the “Operation Discrete Jury” exercise, which tested the ability of the Wing to be deployed abroad for peace-keeping and peace-making missions. The exercise was aimed to evaluate many air wings’ activities, from rescue to telecommunication services, self-protection and survival capabilities and, more particularly, logistic support, maintenance and flight operations. It was in this very field that the operations of the Grosseto Base’s Typhoons were positively evaluated, demonstrating excellent operational availability and compliance with national and NATO’s operational requirement.
The following image is courtesy of Alenia Aeronautica
The mini-airshow held in Trapani on Jun. 8, 2009 to celebrate the first 1.000 flight hours of Maj. Salvatore Ferrara and Maj. Maurizio De Angelis (to read more about the event click Part 1, Part 2) provided the opportunity to take some pictures of the Gioia del Colle F-2000s temporary deployed to Trapani to perform firing activities in the Sardinian range (Trapani is ideal for such a kind of activity since it is located on the coast and the armed aircraft can reach the ranges overflying only the sea). The aircraft belonged to the 12° Gruppo of the 36° Stormo. During the afternoon of Jun. 8, one of them suffered a minor failure during the firing activity and was compelled to return to Trapani and perform an emergency landing as one of the pictures, taken by Giovanni Maduli, shows.
Below, the last artwork by Ugo Crisponi of AVIATIONGRAPHIC.COM, showing a Typhoon with the markings of the 12° Gruppo.
On May 21, 2009, Matteo Marianeschi visited Istrana airbase to take some pictures of the daily activities performed by the local based 132° and 103° Gruppo both belonging to the 51° Stormo. Interestingly, Istrana is not only home of the two AMX Squadrons, but is one of the Italian airbases with the largest collections of preserved aircraft and relics as the following images show.
Courtesy of the Old Crow team (visit their site: http://www.oldcrow.it), here are the drawings of the F-16 ADF MM7240 that was painted with a special colour scheme to celebrate the 1.000 hours on the “Viper” by Maj. Maurizio “Masa” De Angelis (to read more about the event click Part 1, Part 2 or Special Patches).
For the event held in Trapani on Jun. 8 (to read more click here and here) to celebrate the 1.000 hours on the F-16 by the two squadron commanders, the 10° and 18° Gruppo presented some brand new patches:
These are the two patches made to celebrate the 1.000 hours (left, the 18° Gruppo patch, right, the 10° Gr one)
These are the two new patches made by the 18° Gruppo
These are the patches made to celebrate the 1.000 hours or 2.000 hours on the F-104 and F-16 Air Defense Fighters. These are worn by pilots of both squadrons
The Lockheed Martin celebrative patch on the Cheero (left) and Masa (right) flight suits
The patches worn by Fats (Capt. Pier Francesco Grassi). Fats gave me the lower one (1.000 hours ADF) as a gift after the flight
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