Giorgio Catellani, one of the greatest Italian Air Force heraldry expert, recently sent me a few images of patches belonging to Squadrons equipped with the F-104 or whose badge contained (or still contains) a Starfighter. Some of these pictures are extremely rare and provide and interesting view of the type and feature of the patches the Italian pilots and personnel wore on their flight suits in the ’60s or ’70s, at the beginning of the F-104 career in the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force). Following are the images that Giorgio sent me; all these patches will be soon added to my Italian Air Force F-104 patches.
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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