MM6507 – new update

There’s a lot of interest about the fate of the MM6507 that was (apparently) being restored at Grazzanise (read also these posts http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2007/11/28/mm6507-update/ and http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/new-f-104-restoration-project-discovered/).
Someone initially pointed to the F-104 pole mounted in Istrana with code 51-21 as the MM6507 seen at Grazzanise, however, when I visited Grazzanise for the last time on Apr 26, I saw the aircraft among the others in the famous scrapyard next to the GEA hangar. The preserved grey 51-21 that was erected in the centre of Istrana (town), was identified by the IFS (International F-104 Society) as MM6552.
Here are a few pictures I took in Grazzanise on Apr 26. Among the others (on the right) you can notice the camouflaged tail of the MM6507 with the characteristic 22 Gruppo/51 Stormo bagdes.



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.