Unprecedented readiness training by the 31st Fighter Wing’s F-16s and HH-60Gs today.
Two dozen F-16s belonging to the 510th Fighter Squadron and 555th Fighter Squadron, along with two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters of the 56th Rescue Squadron (plus one acting as a camera ship) took part in an unprecedented 31st Fighter Wing’s “Elephant Walk” on the runway at Aviano Air Base in northeastern Italy.
The Elephant Walk was followed by a COVID-19 flyover as part of a training activity “intended to showcase the continued combat power of Aviano Air Base and give thanks to first responders, doctors, and all personnel engaged in the battle against COVID-19.”
The Aviano’s “Vipers” did not only taxi in close formation or in sequence (in the same way elephants do) to take some cool shots, as those you can find in this article: they launched and carried out their flying activity that included missions in the restricted airspace over the Adriatic Sea.
Interestingly, as anticipated by our reader Aljoša Jarc on The Aviationist FB Group, one of the four 6-ship formations flew eastbound towards Slovenia, to perform flyovers of several Slovenian hospitals and cities to celebrate the end of the covid epidemic in Slovenia.
During the flyovers in Slovenia, the six 31st FW F-16s joined three Pilatus PC-9M of the Slovenian Army.
A big thank you to our reader Aljoša Jarc for providing additional details about the activity in Slovenia!
