TF-104G-M "N991SF" "Starfighters" taxi at the AMI 100th anniversary at Pratica di Mare AB June 18, 2023

TF-104G, MM54258, construction number 583H-5209, model 583-10-20, built by Lockheed

For this occasion the Aeronautica Militare collaborated with Florida-based Starfighters Aerospace to bring one of that company’s airworthy, 
Italian-built F-104 back to the nation of its birth. Former Italian Air Force TF-104G MM54258, nicknamed "Black Beauty", was shipped from Cape Canaveral to Grosseto Air Base, 
home to 4° Stormo (4th Wing), and the one-time base of this very airframe. 
Starfighter Aerospace personnel reassembled the airframe, in cooperation with a former Starfighter crew chiefs. 
On Tuesday June 13, 2023 Black Beauty flew in Italian skies almost twenty years since the type’s last flight over the nation. 
After flight testing was complete, PierCarlo Ciacchi flew the TF-104G to Pratica di Mare to join in this weekend’s festivities.

copyright © Osvaldo Ciurleo