The MM6833 (or 6785) mistery

Published on: August 15, 2008 at 11:39 AM

A few days ago, I explained in another post (http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/tracking-the-mm6833-or-6785/) that Matteo Marianeschi sent me some pictures of a truck that was carrying the MM6833 on May 9, 2008, on the A1 highway, next to Arezzo, Tuscany. The F-104 appeared almost completely cleaned from all the graffiti and wore an unknown badge below the “5-25″ code on the right hand side of the fuselage. Since the Warner Village F-104 was removed from its previous location and all the other details (code, serials and badges) of the aircraft on the truck match with those owned by that Starfighter, I was pretty sure that it was the same relic…. until I received the following email from Johan Mulder Military Sections Editor Austria / Italy / Malta and Switzerland of the Dutch Aviation Society – Scramble:

Dear David,

I have red your article about the Warner Village F-104 MM6785/5-25
(with tail MM6833). You suggested it was noted on a truck on the A1 highway, next to Arezzo, Tuscany.
Amazingly, as the pictures show, the F-104 was almost completely cleaned and wears an unknown badge below the “5-25″ code on the right hand side of the fuselage.

That is not possible. I photographed the MM6785 on the spot at the
Warner Village in Rome on 25 May 2008. It was still there with the
graffity and so on.

So the one on the truck on 9 May 2008 must be an other one. Problem is, I don´t have
a clue which one. In the Scramble database I don´t have a F-104 coded
5-25 which is missing….

Cordiali saluti and Servus!
Johan Mulder

Which F-104 was on the truck on May 9 2008 and where was it going?

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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.
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