RidgeRunner Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 SHi all, I'm in the mood for scanning and so have now pulled out a few from my day around Villafranca in April 1986. I had secured a tour of the base and was escorted by Tne. Domenic Taglieri and Tne. Flavio Mucia. They were extremely generous with their time and imposed no restrictions on photography. However, I did have to leave all film with them for processing and I finally got the slides via the UK Embassy in Rome a few weeks later. The day wasn't the best, with the majority of the tour being during the morning which was grey with the odd spot of rain. The afternoon, after I left, was sunny!!! Hey ho. I had wanted to visit Villafranca for a long time, having had a couple of aborted approaches to there while riding the jump seat on our charter flights. Twice we diverted due to fog :(. At that time I worked for Dan-Air and we had regular winter/spring flights to Verona and so eventually I found a day when I could take a morning flight out and an evening flight back. That gave me a day there to watch the activity from the fence. That was December 1984 and it gave me the inspiration for my 1986 trip. Anyway, here are a few shots: The base flight, the 603 Squadriglia Collegamenti, flew this little SIAI: The fire dump contained this Thunderflash and a couple of T-33As: The 603 Squadriglia Collegamenti fleet of MB.326s: The 132 Gruppo ramp: This 132 Gruppo machine had recently acquired the "new" style codes and had just been up on a local flight: Storage/Maintenance: The 28 Gruppo ramp: Sorry about the quality but my Olympus OM-1 loaded with Kodachrome 25 struggled in the gloom Martin 16 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canberraman Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 A real period piece Martin and some lovely and rare images. Your mention of the Italian bureaucracy regarding photography on the bases reminded me of the hoops I went through to visit Aviano in 2009. Keep the scans coming! Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 Great shots, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 Great stuff. I flew into Verona Villafranca in 1988 and 89 courtesy Air Europe 757 with the missus on holiday to Lake Garda. I recall seeing the F-104s and once, a pair of West German RF-4E Phantoms. Happy days. Looking forward to seeing more pics. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 More great pictures Martin. My favourite period of modern Italian markings with the camo and large white serial numbers, lovely! 🇺🇦 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinxman Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Lovely stuff - ah for the old days and Kodachrome. 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 (edited) Martin, Those are some beautiful Zipper photos, Martin! Thanks for sharing them. A real shame seeing that derelict RF-84F! 👍 Mike Edited March 1, 2022 by 72modeler corrected spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 Great pics Martin, some rare old birds there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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