Pisa air show 1981

Back in 1981 I was lucky enough to be in the Pisa area when the local air force base at San Giusto were holding there annual open day.

I’ve recently scanned my photos from that day and thought I’d share them. I haven’t cleaned them all up thoroughly, though.

The resident 46th Brigata Aerea were well represented, of course, with their C-130s and G.222s, and even an old preserved C-119.

The rest of the static diaplay, from memory was entirely Italian military or police.

One of the first items in the flying display was a water-bombing demo from a Hercules. Unfortunately I was changing lenses as it ran in and messed up the exposure (no TTL metering for me in those days).

The rest of the display included a Blanik glider, the new MB.339, flown by the Reparto Sperimentale do Volo (Experimental Flight Department), a quartet of Starfighters and the Frecce Tricolori (of course).

The only overseas participation I noticed was this Starlifter parked at the civilan end.