Italian Eurofighter Typhoons Get Checkered Tails

Published on: November 25, 2012 at 2:00 PM

The tradition lives on.

The 18° Gruppo (Squadron) of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) has had checkered tails on its aircraft since the unit flew the F-104 Starfighter, out of Trapani Birgi Air Base, Sicily, in the 1980s.

Then, the traditional checkerboard appeared on the fin of the Lockheed Martin F-16ADF the Squadron, has flown from Jun. 2003 to Jun. 2012, when the leased “Vipers” were eventually returned to the U.S.

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Finally, the checkerboard has made its way to the rudder of the Eurofighter Typhoons that the 18° Gruppo has received last month, as the top picture, taken recently by Michele Carrara, shows.

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By David Cenciotti

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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.