Lowpassage.com - David Cenciotti's photo gallery

50th Anniversary AWTI - Decimomannu - 25.09.09

David Cenciotti — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:58:26 +0000

On Sept. 25, Decimomannu airbase in Sardinia, Italy, hosted the 50th Anniversary of the AWTI (Air Weapons Training Installation) that was established the NATO partnership of Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Canada. The AWTI exploits an ACMI (Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation) range where air-to-air missions and DACT (Dissimilar Air Combat Training) are remotely monitored and recorded, and an air-to-ground bombing range at Capo Frasca, where pilots can train dropping both dumb and smart weaponry. Currently, the base is mainly used by the aircraft belonging to the Italian and German Air Force that renewed the agreement for another 3 years even if it often hosts aircraft of other air forces involved in training campaigns and multinational exercises. The following pictures (including a sort of GAF F-4 walkaround) were taken by Giovanni Maduli on Sept. 24 (rehearsals) and Sept. 25.

Frosinone - 11.06.09

David Cenciotti — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:16:36 +0000

From 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.

First Italian Air Force SF-260EA in new colour scheme - Latina - 28.08.09

David Cenciotti — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:36:10 +0000

The SF-260EA of the Latina-based 70° Stormo of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF) will soon receive a high-visibility colour scheme since the previous grey one made rejoin and formation flight a little too difficult for student pilots.

On Aug. 28, the first aircraft in the new colour scheme (MM55119 “70-26″) rolled-out at Latina and Giovanni Maduli was there to take the following exclusive pictures.

F-2000s TDY Trapani - 08.06.09

David Cenciotti — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:31:01 +0000

The mini-airshow held in Trapani on Jun. 8, 2009 to celebrate the first 1.000 flight hours of Maj. Salvatore Ferrara and Maj. Maurizio De Angelis provided the opportunity to take some pictures of the Gioia del Colle F-2000s temporary deployed to Trapani to perform firing activities in the Sardinian range (Trapani is ideal for such a kind of activity since it is located on the coast and the armed aircraft can reach the ranges overflying only the sea). The aircraft belonged to the 12° Gruppo of the 36° Stormo. During the afternoon of Jun. 8, one of them suffered a minor failure during the firing activity and was compelled to return to Trapani and perform an emergency landing as one of the pictures, taken by Giovanni Maduli, shows.

Trapani - 08.06.09

David Cenciotti — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:52:15 +0000

On Jun. 8, the 37° Stormo of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF) presented two F-16 ADF (MM7240 and MM7249) painted in special colour schemes to celebrate the 1000 Flight Hours achieved by both commanders of the 10° and 18° Gruppo, Maj. Salvatore “Cheero” Ferrara and Maj. Maurizio “Masa” De Angelis. The two “specials” performed an interesting air display that involved also other 7 aircraft of both Squadrons, comprising MM7239 that is a sort of semi-special having the tail painted with the colours of the 10° Gruppo on the right hand side and the ones of the 18° Gruppo on the left hand side: MM7253, 7257, 7241, 7260, 7250, 7267, 7239, 7240, 7249.
Following is the first selection of pictures taken during the event, which comprised 9 ship flypasts, and aerobatic maneuvers (schneider, looping, rollover, etc) of the two Specials.

Rome International Air Show (Ostia Air Show): 30-31.05.09

David Cenciotti — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:31:29 +0000

Here are the pictures I took on 30.05.09 (rehearsals) and on 31.05.09 during the Rome International Air Show held in Ostia. For more information about the airshow, click here or here.

Tishreen War Panorama Museum, Damascus, Syria - November 2008

David Cenciotti — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:42:05 +0000

In November 2008, I had the opportunity to visit Damascus, in Syria, one of the most wonderful and interesting towns of the Middle East. Damascus is an ancient town (for some historical sources, it is the oldest of the World), absolutely safe for a foreign visitor (in spite of the supposed support to the international terrorists and the consequent US embargo), full welcoming people, sights, museums and places that are worth a visit. Among them, at least for aviation and military enthusiasts, the Tishereen War Panorama. Built to celebrate the Yom Kippur War that took place in the October 1973 (”Tishreen” means “October” in Arabic), during which Syria fought along Egypt against Israel to conquer the Sinai peninsula and the Golan Heights lost in the Six Days War in 1967, the Museum is located some 2 chilometers to the North East of the Old City of Damascus, along one of the most crowded local highways. Even if some tourist guides report that the Museum is open from 09.00 to 21.00, the “Panorama” (as it is widely known in Damascus) doesn’t open before 10.00 in the morning (actually, opening time should be from 10.00 to 12.00 and from 16.00 to 18.00 but I suggest to double check before planning a visit when arriving in Syria). What must be taken into account is that, opening hours aside, it could be not so easy to find a means of transportation to the Museum and a taxi driver willing to bring some tourist there and to leave them on the right side of the street. Tickets for tourists cost 10 USD and they provide access to the memorial. In fact, the Museum is made of a large cylindric-shaped building (that looks like a medieval “citadel”) surrounded by flowerbeds and by two areas, on the opposite sides of the main building where the most interesting part of the collection is displayed. The main building contains images, paintings and a room with a turning seating area that turns slowly to let you observe the entire panorama (hence the name of the museum) of the battle of Quneitra, the city in the Golan Heights conquered by the Israelis in “Six days war” that the Syrians were taking back. On the its right side (watching the “citadel”), Syrian equipment (aircraft, tanks, cannons) is exposed; on the left there’s an area dedicated to the Israeli “hardware” captured during the 1973 war and in 1982 war in Lebanon. In the middle, there’s a big statue of the former president Hafez al-Assad with a raised arm in the act of ordering an attack. Among the Syrian equipment the most interesting examples are the Mig-21 and the Mi-8 of the Quwwat al-Jawwiya al Arabiya as-Souriya (Syrian Arab Air Force). The fighter has no markings but the serial number “676″ (in Arabic) on the left side of the tail and carries two AA-2 Atoll missiles and two UB16 pods for 16 57mm rockets. The Mi-8, coded “78″ carries 4 UB16 pods. Unfortunately, both seem to have been repainted in the last years and wear colour schemes and roundels that are quite different from the original ones. Both aircraft are exposed next to the spacecraft used in 1967 by the only Syrian cosmonaut and are surrounded by all kinds of weapons systems: SA-3 and SA-6 SAMs (Surface to Air Missiles), lightly armored, radar guided anti-aircraft weapon system ZSU-23-4 “Shilka”, T-54, T-55 and T-62 tanks, BMP-1 amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle and various kinds of cannons and trucks. The Israeli side hosts the remains of a F-4 Phantom downed in Lebanon (unfortunately, there’s no way to identify it since no serial is readable), a SUU-30B/B dispencer, an underwing tank used by both F-4s and F-15s (since it is in almost perfect conditions it was possibly jettisoned by an F-4 during a low level attack) and the wreckage of a unknown aircraft (most probably a Mystére IV or a Vautour II). Noteworthy there are many tanks and trucks that were captured in Lebanon. Among them, an M-48 , a Centurion, an AMX VCI, and an M.113 Armoured Personnel Carrier.

F-104 air-to-air pictures by Katsuhiko Tokunaga - Grosseto 2004

David Cenciotti — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:32:44 +0000

Many visitors of my site and photo gallery ask me questions about aviation photography and especially about shooting air-to-air from a chase plane. I’ve already written about the difficulties of taking nice pictures when strapped on an ejection seat inside a small jet cockpit and provided a few explainations and tricks (either on specific posts or via email) to take nice air-to-air images. What I’m presenting now is the first part of a large collection of pictures taken by the most famous military aviation photographer in the world: Katsuhiko Tokunaga. In year 2000, Code One magazine wrote the following introductory text to his photo gallery:
“Katsuhiko Tokunaga began his aerial photography career in a T-33A jet trainer. Since then, he has covered the high-performance military jets of twenty-six nations, concentrating on air-to-air photography. In addition, he has taken official pictures for foreign aircraft manufacturers, air forces, and navies. He has also worked on the production and direction of many aviation videos. His published work appears in magazines in Japan and in other countries. Based in Tokyo, he has accumulated over 800 flight hours in high-performance jets, among them the F-16. He has also flown with and photographed USAF Thunderbirds, Japanese Blue Impulses, USN Blue Angels, Canadian Snowbirds, British Royal Air Force Red Arrows, French Patrouille de France, Italian Frecce Tricolori, Swiss Patrouille Suisse, Portuguese Asas de Portugal, Spanish Patrulla Aguila, Swedish Team 60s, Yugoslavian Letece Zvesdes, Slovak Biele Albatrosys, and Swiss PC-7 Team”. Since 2000 he has taken thousands more breathtaking pictures (something we can define “works of art”). I’ve obtained by him and by Gen. Gagliano of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force), the authorization to publish a selection of the images “Katsu” took in the last years with the ItAF. All pictures have this website’s logo just to prevent unauthorized usage. The following is just a selection of the picture Tokunaga took in 2004 flying with the F-104 of the Grosseto-based 4° Stormo.
All the 300 pictures can be found here: http://lowpassage.com/photo-archive/f-104-air-to-air-pictures-by-katsuhiko-tokunaga/

All the following pictures are copyright Katsuhiko Tokunaga / AM

Flying with the TF-104G-M - November 2000

David Cenciotti — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 15:34:47 +0000

“Mix 153, Grosseto Tower, line up and wait runway 03”. It is November 27th 2000, I’m strapped in the backseat of the TF-104G-M MM54558 “4-48” of the 20th Gruppo piloted by Capt. Andrea Truppo, an Instructor pilot (IP) of the 4th Stormo. I tighten my oxygen mask, lower the dark visor of my HGU-55G helmet and give a final check to the camera that I hold in my right hand. The aircraft passes the arresting cable of the RWY 03 and stops on the left wing of another Starfighter, the MM54553 “4-44” piloted by Col. Germano Quattrociocchi (former Cdr of the 4th Stormo) and Capt. Daniele Locatelli, another IP with almost 2000 hours on the F-104. We start the engine run and give a quick glance at the instruments. Everything is running smoothly, we are ready for departure. Weather is just fine. Scattered clouds in the vicinity of the airport but mostly clear skies in the Grosseto CTR. We will perform a low level navigation towards the Northern edge of the control zone, then we will head to the coastline proceeding again southbound. Finally we will reach the Scansano area that we will engage for about 10 minutes to perform some acrobatic maneuvers in formation. “Tower, Mix 153 is ready for take off” is radioed by the leading aircraft. “153, cleared for take-off, wind is calm”…..

To read the rest of the story, click here: http://cencio4.wordpress.com/works/flying-the-tf-104g-m/

71° Gruppo - Pratica di Mare - 2004 - 20.000 hours on the P.166DL3

David Cenciotti — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:36:02 +0000

On Apr. 6, 2009, at 03.33AM LT, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the Abruzzo region, in central Italy, killing more than 200 people, causing entire buildings to collapse and leaving 17.000 people homeless.
Reconnaissance missions were performed by an AMX of the 51° Stormo from Istrana and by one of the last P.166DL3 APH belonging to the Pratica di Mare-based 14° Stormo. The DL3, that can be fitted with Leica RC-20 and RC-30 (modified in order to mitigate the effects of the movement) performed an aerophotogrammetric mission aimed to the photographic survey of the areas hit by the earthquake. In the last years, as the following images (displayed by the 71° Gruppo in 2004 during the celebrations for the 20.000 hours on the “Piaggione”) show, the aircraft was often involved in missions aimed to the update of the land cartography or to the photographic survey of a portion of territory as a result of natural calamities, even if they have also been employed in reconnaissance missions in support of the Police or for the survey of building abuses. Following are pictures of the P.166DL3 of the 71° Gr that I took on Jul. 7, 2004, when the Squadron celebrated the 20.000 hours on the type.
An article on the missions of the 71° Stormo (2007 - 2008) can be read here: “71° Gruppo: Master of many tasks”.

F-4 low passage after take off - October 2004

David Cenciotti — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:46:42 +0000

A few days ago I’ve published a dramatic picture of a Tornado ECR perfoming a low level passage after take off from Cameri at the following address: http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/low-level-tornado-ecr/. Those who commented the picture have different opinions: some believe that maneuver was suicidal or at least too risky; others thinks that things like that are extremely funny. I too believe that kind of low passage is spectacular but that kind of +45° left turn performed a few meters above the tarmac after take off, is too dangerous. The turn is made towards a crowd that is watching and filming the show and this makes the maneuver even more risky.
I witnessed something perhaps less spectacular but safer in October 2004, when the Hellenic Air Force F-4 Phantoms were deployed to Grazzanise for Ex. Destined Glory. The following “postcard” shows a low passage, performed along the runway 24 centerline, immediately after take off by one the HAF F-4s.

Click on the following image to open a high-rez version of the picture (3000×319 px):

Air-to-air with the F-104s of the 9° Stormo - May 2003

David Cenciotti — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:13:19 +0000

In May 2003, I had the opportunity to fly a mission on board an MB-339A of the locally based 609^ Squadriglia Collegamenti to take some air-to-air pictures of the F-104 Starfighter belonging to the 10° Gruppo of the 9° Stormo and to the 18° Gruppo of the 37° Stormo, that were both based in Grazzanise. The 18° Gruppo had been the second Gruppo to end the operations with the F-104 after the 23° Gruppo at Cervia. On Apr. 22, 2003 the final four operative F-104 and 10 pilots flew to Grazzanise to continue operating with the F-104 from Grazzanise airbase while Trapani began the work needed to accommodate the F-16s (delivered on Jun 28). Pilots of the 18th Gruppo temporarily deployed to Grazzanise were “absorbed” by the 9° Stormo. The 18° Gruppo lived parallel lives: some of the pilots were at Grazzanise with the F-104; others were at Trapani flying with the first 12 F-16 delivered; the remaining are at Tucson, attending the Arizona ANG courses on the Viper.
The photo session was part of a 5 days visit to Grazzanise to prepare a report about the 9° Stormo that was published later that year on Aeronautica & Difesa (that you can read in Italian language here: http://cencio4.wordpress.com/works/il-9%c2%b0-stormo/).

36° Stormo - Gioia del Colle - Sept. 2004

David Cenciotti — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:24:45 +0000

The following pictures were taken at Gioia del Colle in Sept. 2004 during a 2 day visit I made to prepare an article that was published on Rivista Aeronautica (that you can read here in Italian). They are interesting because in that period, the local based 36° Stormo was made of 2 Gruppi on 3 aircraft types: the 156° Gruppo, equipped with the Tornado IDS, and the 12° Gruppo, that was returning the Tornado F.3 leased by the Royal Air Force (but was still flying them) and was converting to the SMI (Slow Movers Interceptor) role with the MB-339CD, “on loan” from the 61° Stormo (212° Gruppo).

5° Stormo - Cervia - February 2004

David Cenciotti — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:20:23 +0000

A few months ago, I published a photostory, named “A day in the life of the 9° Stormo of Grazzanise“, an article to provide a snapshot about the 9° Stormo and Grazzanise airbase in a day of 2003. The story contained almost all the pics I shot on that day, not just a selection of the most significant ones. The following one is a day spent in Cervia at the beginning of 2004, a few months after the first F-16 of the 23° Gruppo / 5° Stormo arrived in Italy, for a report that was published by Rivista Aeronautica (that, you can read in Italian, here: “Il 5° Stormo….la tana delle Vipere”).

Flying with the Frecce Tricolori

David Cenciotti — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:12:11 +0000

In Jan. 2006 I went to Rivolto airbase to visit the Frecce Tricolori and to report about the Winter Season and the training activities performed by the pilots of the display team. Here’s the full article (in Italian) that I wrote for Rivista Aeronautica: Alla scoperta delle Frecce Tricolori. During the visit, I had the possibility to fly with Col. Tarantino (who was “Pony 0″, the Commander of the team) an acrobatic 2 ships training mission. During the flight I had the possibility to pilot the MB.339, performing formation looping, roll over, etc. and then I was showed by Tarantino some famous maneuvers, like the Lomcovak and the Tail Slide. During the orientation mission, flying with Maj. Cavelli in the other aircraft was the photographer of the Frecce who took the following interesting pictures of my experience with the Italian display team.
To read the full article, click the following link: http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/flying-with-the-frecce-tricolori-in-the-training-season/