Frosinone - 11.06.09 September 11, 2009
Posted by David Cenciotti in : Italian Air Force, Military Aviation , add a commentFrom a few years, Dutch military helicopters have been deploying to Frosinone, Italy, homebase of the 72° Stormo of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF) to conduct training activities in the mountainous areas located around the Italian airport. Tactical low level flights are needed to keep the currencies required to be employed in Afghanistan. Following the AH-64D Apache that visited Frosinone at the beginning of April, 3 CH-47 Chinook of 298 Sqn and 3 AS535U2 Cougar of the 300 Sqn of the KLu (Koninklijke Luchtmacht, the Royal Netherlands Air Force) deployed to the Italian airbase during the first two weeks of June during the operation named “High Blaze” that involved 90 military. The CH-47 performed, on average, 2 daily missions lasting around 3.5 FH (Fligh Hours) while the AS535U2 performed 3 daily 2 FH missions. As usual, when deployed to Frosinone, the Dutch detachment is autonomous; the 72° Stormo provides only the logistic support (food, fire-fighting, ATC services, and Force Protection).
On Jun. 11, Giovanni Maduli was given the possibility to visit the Dutch detachment and take the following pictures.
311° Gruppo / Reparto Sperimentale Volo - Pratica di Mare March 14, 2009
Posted by David Cenciotti in : Aviation, Italian Air Force , comments closedOn Mar. 11, 2009, I visited the flight line of the 311° Gruppo of the Reparto Sperimentale Volo, the Test unit of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana (Italian Air Force, ItAF), inside Pratica di Mare, the largest italian military airport. Accompayned by Maj. Igor Bruni, one the RSV pilots (and the MB339CD display pilot in the past two years), I spent a few hours on the “PB” apron of the Sperimentale where I was able to observe the daily flying activity. The flight line had many aircraft parked or being prepared for sorties: MB.339A, MB.339CD, C-27J, C-130J, NH.500E, Tornado IDS, AMX-T ACOL, Tornado ECR, AB-212 . More or less the majority of the aircraft types in service with the ItAF were in the flight line of the squadron. Recovered inside a hangar was also an interesting aircraft I was not allowed to photograph but that is far from being a secret addition to the RSV fleet: read here. A few missions were flown during my stay. In the early morning, the MB.339A CSX 54453/RS-30 departed to perform a flight inside the R-62 area. In the front seat a former 23° Gruppo pilot recently assigned to the 311° Gruppo was performing a sort of “orientation flight” with Maj. Giacomo “Jack” Iannelli on the back seat. Later, the MB.339CD MM55091/RS-32 also departed for a local sortie, followed by the C-27J CSX 62219/46-87. Before noon, both MB.339 (1 CD + 1 A) took off to perform a training mission together.
Air-to-Air with the NH-500E of the 72° Stormo March 13, 2009
Posted by David Cenciotti in : Aviation , add a commentThe Italian helicopter school, the 72nd Stormo (Wing), is quite an atypical unit in the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF). In fact, despite not being structured like the classic OCU (Operational Convertion Unit), it keeps its training role while undertaking operative missions abroad in Peace Keeping/Enforcing Operations. The 72nd Stormo is equipped with NH-500Es, a platform that can best be described as versatile: it is small, fast, maneuverable and is an easyily maintainable aircraft that can also carry light armament. For all these reasons, the Italian Air Force is studying the possibility of employing it within a mixed force focused in the SMI (Slow Movers Interception) role.
David Cenciotti went to Frosinone to describe the present and future of the only Italian School involved in the so-called out-of-area operations.
Full article: http://cencio4.wordpress.com/works/72-stormo/
