Frosinone – 11.06.09

September 11th, 2009 No comments

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.




























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

September 9th, 2009 No comments

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.






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F-2000s TDY Trapani – 08.06.09

September 9th, 2009 No comments

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.

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Trapani – 08.06.09

September 9th, 2009 No comments

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.




















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

June 1st, 2009 No comments

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.





















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