Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

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kruaxi
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Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by kruaxi »

Yesterday, my friend 'Tomcatters' and me were guests to the Grosseto Air base to bring the jubilee of our 4' fighters flight.
80 years: 1931-2011
A beautiful little air show, a static display, commemorative gifts and a fantastic buffet !

Some images:
An old special color F-104 two seater, a very important plane for italian airforce.
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Two people have tried to start and go...
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Tomcatters and the EFA
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Another very old F-104, painted as it appeared in the early days of the sixties
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Tomcatters was happy
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All EFA took off full AB, in a vertical flight ! A first transit
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Touch and go
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A low speed nine formation
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In flight
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The right stuff
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Well, the new Commander of the fourth flight is a bluesman ! (With permission from HQ) he played a blues song for us during the buffet.
You can't see something like this every day !
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Great day... just too much Sun.
Salute e Latinum per tutti !
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kruaxi
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Re: Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by kruaxi »

Ehm... wrong section... :oops:
Salute e Latinum per tutti !
MerlinJones

Re: Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by MerlinJones »

kruaxi wrote:Image
Gawd 'elp the brave Italian Airforce! :shock:

You lucky, lucky Man, Stefano.

Regards,
Bruce
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kruaxi
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Re: Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by kruaxi »

And you're a great, playful man Bruce. ;-)
Sorry for my mistake... someone can move this thread in the apposite section ? Thanks.
Salute e Latinum per tutti !
MerlinJones

Re: Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by MerlinJones »

I'm only jealous and I moved your thread.

I sometimes forget just how good your english is...and that you understand everything I type. ;-)

Regards,
Bruce
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kruaxi
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Re: Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by kruaxi »

MerlinJones wrote: I sometimes forget just how good your english is...and that you understand everything I type. ;-)
Non comprendo...
:ha:
;-)
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shangos70
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Re: Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by shangos70 »

Great pics , lucky man .
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PaulBradley
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Re: Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by PaulBradley »

Cool! Thanks for sharing.
Paul

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beany
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Re: Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by beany »

Fantastic and interesting set of photos Stefano - thanks very much for sharing them. 9 EFA's together - outstanding!!

Cheers
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PDMO
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Re: Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by PDMO »

Great photos Kruaxi, the pictures of those 9 EFA together definately made it for me, spot on.
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skypirate
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Re: Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by skypirate »

Great pics, thank you!

I have an interesting Grosseto story.
Back in 1986 my wife and I made our first trip to Europe - we 'did' many countries by Eurailpass, and my wife patiently accompanied me to many air bases in the UK, Germany (West!) and Italy.
We took the train from Rome to Venice and broke the journey at Grosseto, to have a look at Starfighters in the flesh. I had on me a copy of one of the contemporary aviation mags with details of IAF bases and resident units - no secrets there! We hiked about a mile from the railway station to the airbase. The main road runs past the end of the runway and plenty of traffic could view the daily flying. I had many distant glimpses of F-104s in the circuit. I was getting very excited!
When we reached the main gate of the base I attempted to forestall any security worries by introducing myself, but no one spoke English and I spoke no Italian! I showed my Aussie passport and tried my best.
At this time Gaddafi was raising hell all around the Mediterranean, and security was quite sensitive in many countries. And I am dark-skinned! (Not to mention over-enthusiastic about Starfighters!)
My wife and I walked a couple of hundred metres from the main gate to the end of the runway, out of the way of the passing traffic, got out our camping stools, camera gear and lunch. We had barely sat down when a jeep raced out of the main gate and drove up to us. To show all was above board, I got up and walked over to the the jeep when it pulled over. An officer was sitting beside the driver and he had his handgun out in his lap! These guys were taking no chances.
Once again I tried to explain that I was an innocent aviation buff pushing his luck, but to no avail; we could not communicate enough. I even brought out the magazine with the Grosseto details in the public domain - he was not impressed. They waited while we packed up everything and started walking back to the station. I looked over my shoulder at the odd F-104 flying around, but I didn't get a single picture. I would have had more luck being in one of the passing vehicles!
Anyway, I suppose we were lucky it amounted to no more than that.
To this day I have not feasted my eyes close up on an F-104 in its element, though I have seen the odd static display at IAT, for example. My great loss!

cheers,

David
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kruaxi
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Re: Grosseto, 9-16-2011. 4' Flight jubilee

Post by kruaxi »

Amazing story ! Nothing strange... it's dangerous yet... i believe italians are a bit paranoic... In the same years, my friend Mauro was... 'arrested'... released after few hours, but... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Salute e Latinum per tutti !
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