The F-35B MM7451 during its test flight in full Marina
Militare markings (Credit: Franco Gualdoni)
Here Is Italy’s First F-35B Lightning II Flying In Full
Italian Navy Markings For The First Time Today
Jan 18 2018
By David Cenciotti
The aircraft will be officially delivered to the Marina
Militare next week. Today it flew for the first time in full Italian Navy
markings.
On Jan. 18, the first Italian F-35B, the first short-take
and vertical landing Lightning II aircraft assembled outside the US, designated
BL-1, carried out a test flight in STOVL mode at Cameri airfield, home of the
Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility, in northwestern Italy, sporting
full Italian Navy markings for the very first time.
Aviation photographer and friend Franco Gualdoni was
there and took the photographs of the F-35B flying in the early afternoon sun.
The aircraft, serialled MM7451/4-01, will be taken on
charge by the Marina Militare with a ceremony scheduled at the FACO on Jan. 25,
2018. After delivery, the aircraft will be transferred to the Naval Air Station
Patuxent River in Maryland, to obtain the Electromagnetic Environmental Effects
certification, before moving (most probably) to MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina
home of U.S. Marine Corps F-35B pilot training.
The aircraft, that had successfully completed its maiden
flight on Oct. 24, 2017, sports a livery quite similar to the one of the
Italian Navy’s AV-8B+ Harrier II of the Gruppo Aerei Imbarcati: it features the
wolf’s head insignia on the tail, the wolf’s paw prints on the rudder, the
Italian Navy roundel and the MARINA text.
Italy plans to procure 90 F-35s: 60 F-35As for the Air
Force and 30 F-35Bs for both the ItAF and Italian Navy. The Navy’s STOVL
aircraft will replace the ageing Harrier jump jets at Grottaglie airbase, in
southeastern Italy, and aboard the Cavour aircraft carrier.
The F-35B MM7451 during its test flight in full Marina Militare markings (Credit: Franco Gualdoni)
Original post: theaviationist.com
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