AMI - 37th Stormo will have Typhoons

[james84]

The 37th Stormo, based at Trapani, is currently equipped with leased F-16ADFs and will receive the Typhoons from early 2013.

[andrea81]

Lol so there will be 3 air bases equipped with EFA!

[maverick69]

I think one squadron (X°) will leave Trapani for Gioia (equipped with EF2000) and one squadron (18°) will be disbanded. Trapani will become a FOB without own unit

[andrea81]

So 37th wing will be disbanded too, right?

[james84]

F-16 farewell ceremony today (link in Italian)
http://www.aeronautica.difesa.it/News/P ... 20512.aspx

The 37th Stormo will not be disbanded, on the 18th Gruppo will fly with Eurofighters

[Victory103]

Nice link james, I'm sure if some of your AMX pilots got to fly the Viper, they would want to keep them.

[andrea81]

i saw the last f16B at Cervia AB last week! viper is a fantastic jet!!!!!

[james84]

Nice link james, I'm sure if some of your AMX pilots got to fly the Viper, they would want to keep them.

Well, the airframes returning to the US are quite old, so they do need to be replaced. In my opinion, we will see the Viper again in the future. As you know, we are supposed to get the F-35. Just my imagination, but I thought that Lockheed could compensate us with new F-16s if the JSF program fails. Moreover, I thought they could assemble the aircrafts in Italy in the same plant supposed to produce the F-35s. This is what we did with the F-104s in the past and what B, NL and DK did with the F-16s, which were assembled by SABCA and Fokker. This would allow us to create some new jobs and get a more reliable, cheaper and updated light fighter.
But as I said, it's just imagination!
TW, Andrea posted an interesting (for me) info about the F-16s that will remain here: 4 aircrafts in total, two should become gate guards and one will be carried at the AMI museum! I've never, ever, seen an F-16 from a close distance, and it's my favourite aircraft! The only time I saw an AMI F-16 was some years ago, it escorted a BAe-146 belonging to the defunct Flightline airline with a suspect bomb on board. I just looked out of the window after hearing an unusual noise... and what a noise when it climbed up!

[DaleRFU]

I've never, ever, seen an F-16 from a close distance

I saw the Thunder Birds at the Waddington Air Show last year and they can certainly make a noise, they set all the car alarms off

[tango234]

I saw a single Belgian F-16 at the Autumn airshow at Duxford a couple of years ago, and it happily set off several alarms on its own .

[james84]

Anyway, the most noisy jet I've ever seen was a Croatian MiG-21, a single aircraft that came up at an airshow on a small town of the Adriatic Sea some years ago!

[bismarck]

Noise? Have you ever heard a 104 flying at 60 mt from ground at high speed?
Such a music

[james84]

Noise? Have you ever heard a 104 flying at 60 mt from ground at high speed?
Such a music

NOISE! But the Mig was worse!