The Italian Aerospace Information Web
by Aeromedia - corso Giambone 46/18 - 10135 Torino (Italy)
Last Overhaul for an IAF Two-seater Starfighter
On April 24, at its Turin/Caselle plant, Alenia delivered to Italian Air Force the very last TF-104G-M (IAF serial MM54260) to be overhauled by the company. This is the last two-seater Starfighter subject to IRAN in Turin, although the same maintenance activity for single-seater aircraft will continue for few years.
IAF F-104Gs entered service in the early sixties and were manufactured by the then Fiat Aviazione together with other European companies. 24 trainer version TF-104Gs were procured directly from the USA, in disassembled form, and were ferried to Turin by the Flying Tiger Line in Canadair CL-44 turboprop freighters, for successive reassembly and flight checks prior delivery to IAF.
From 1965 on, all IAF TF-104Gs were assigned to the 20th Group at Grosseto. Considering the very prolonged and demanding activity, the aircraft performed very well with an outstanding efficiency record. In the mid eighties a complement of six former Luftwaffe TF-104Gs strenghtened the Grosseto flight line and, in more recent years, fifteen aircraft were updated to TF-104G-M configuration.
In the picture: Alenia TF-104G-M MM54554 of Italian Air Force. The former Luftwaffe aircraft joined IAF in September 1988 (photo by Aeromedia)
(Aeromedia, May 2001)