Four F-2000A Typhoon jets, each wearing a unique special livery, were unveiled on Jun. 24 at Grosseto airbase.
As already reported, on Saturday Jun. 24, Grosseto airbase hosted the event that celebrated the 100th anniversary of five Italian Air Force squadrons: the IX Gruppo (9th Squadron, using the Roman numerals), belonging to the 4° Stormo (Wing), based at Grosseto; the X and XII Gruppo (10th and 12th Squadron), both belonging to the 36° Stormo, Gioia del Colle; the XIII Gruppo (13th Squadron), with the 32° Stormo from Amendola; and the XVIII Gruppo (18th Squadron), belonging to the 37° Stormo, based at Trapani.
Along with the world’s first ever F-35A with special tail markings presented by the XIII Gruppo, the IX, X, XII and XVIII, that fly the Eurofighter Typhoon, unveiled their special colored F-2000A jets.
The IX Gruppo special, MM7340/4-9, was designed by Silvano Mainini and Andrea Scomparin (who are also behind many other famous paint jobs including the special liveries of the last Grosseto F-104 Starfighters back in 2003). It sports the squadron’s white rearing horse and “9” squadron number on the left hand side of the tail and the horse and IX numeral on the right one.
The X Gruppo special, MM7341/36-10 was designed by Lt. Giovanni D’Antonio and features Francesco Baracca’s black rearing horse along with a red “Picca” (pike – from the unit’s radio callsign).
MM7318/36-12, the XII Gruppo special jet was designed by our friend Ugo Crisponi and features the rearing horse on a sand background, along with the silhouettes of all the aircraft flown by the squadron since 1917.
The XVIII Gruppo special colored Typhoon MM7293/37-18, once again made by Mainini and Scomparin, has a different scheme on the right and left side of the tail: the right one shows the “Vespa Arrabbiata” (Italian for Angry Wasp) of the 3° Stormo to which the squadron belonged during WWII; the left side shows the XVIII numeral superimposed to the typical green and black checkerboard.
As the photos in the post show, all the aircraft had the airbrake and canards painted as well.
In a world of military aviation dominated by overall grey paint schemes, some colour is much appreciated by enthusiasts, photographers and spotters!
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On a side note, just wait ’till those Italian Typhoons start teaming up with Italy’s F-35s. What – 80 Eurofighters combined with 70+ F-35s? I think that may give Italy the most powerful AF in Europe. Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing those tail portraits on their fleet of Joint Strike Fighters – even if it is in low-vis grey.
here the Italian taxpayers are still asking the why of the money spent for these F35 having just these Typhoons… ciao :-D
Especially considering that the F-35 is in essence an offensive weapon, and that Italy does not participate in conflicts in foreign countries…
And what about getting Italian taxpayer’s money back on the groung of LM’s lies, as they had promised to transfer significant industrial structures to Italy, before locating the all in the UK? Has the Italian government asked for an explanation on this?
For your knowledge the Italian air force already declared the F35 will be used for striking mission as rhey are not suitable for an air superiority role.
Wrong! You must not be keeping up with the program at all. At Mt. Home AFB F-35s scored a kill ratio of 8:1 vs F-15E, and 20:1 at Red Flag 17-1 vs. a number of Aggressors.
Don’t post if you have no idea what you’re talking about. F-35 will be a premier A-A platform, able to engage even the best Russian fighters. Actually MiG, Sukhoi, and I don’t care if it’s MiG-29, MiG-31, MiG-35, Su-27, Su-30, Su-34, Su-35, Pak FA/T-50, won’t stand a chance against F-35’s 5th gen stealth capabilities. They are all DEAD in an A-A engagement vs. the JSF.
The UK may beg to differ! Although both have their budget issues, we’ll see what they end up with.
The UK has 160 Eurofighters and has 138 F-35Bs on order, unless you mean mainland Europe of course.
I meant the mainland, not the UK. I should have specified.
Given the amazing combat-readiness rates of those two aircraft, and given that their availability does not significantly improve in time, I guess 80+70 should allow them to field maybe 35 aircraft at once. Ha, let’s be more generous, maybe Typhoons can be sortied more quickly in case of a real emergency… I’ll make it 55 aircraft. At best. I doubt this can do to make them Europe’s most powerful air force, given that France, taking into account numbers and combat-readiniess rates, would roughly be capable to field about 140 aircraft at once in case of a conflict with Italy.
These numbers of course do not account for trainer/light attack aircraft, which France also has in higher numbers.