Near Rome you have the following bases with military and paramilitary aircraft/helos:

Guidonia – gliders
Ciampino – VIP stuff (Sea King, Falcon, Gulfstream, A319), Fire Guard helos, Civil Guard stuff, .
Pratica di Mare – Mostly transport (707, G222, P166, P180, HH-3F), Carabinieri helos, Guardia di Finanza helos+transport, Polizia stuff.
Frosinone – Helo training (NH500)
Latina – Primary training (SF260).
Viterbo – Army helos
Urbe – Forest Guard helos

Hey! These ones aren’t cynical, insulting, bitter, humiliating, degrading, perverted or tasteless, but i like them!

Nothing wrong with a winter-BBQ. Done it plenty of times, both because it tastes good but it’s also a nice way to have at least something to do when planespotting. Okay, so perhaps the forest patrol guy doesn’t like it (just ask at Ramstein, where we were friendly enough to put our burning BBQ in the car and drive it to a parking lot where a bit of grilling was allowed), and maybe the security guys get a little paranoid (just ask at Frankfurt, where back in the Desert Storm-days it was very difficult to keep a smoking BBQ and a Scud-in-preparation apart), but at least it’s part of the fun.

I have another BBQ planned for this week, on my fourth-floor balcony. Great place: if it really gets too cold (below minus 10 or so) we can always go inside. Also, the balcony is covered so a little rain won’t matter. I believe even my neighbours are used to it now. The only problem might be when i run out of charcoal, probably half way through February.

Originally posted by SOC
… On a side note, who else thinks that the above image of the sign would be a great avatar for Art? 😀

🙂 I did try to crop-&-reshape it to avatar-size, but it didn’t work. Unfortunately i never managed to steal one of those signs (of course i would prefer a ‘You are leaving the Soviet Sector’-one), but i have plenty of nice no-entry signs from Soviet airbases in East Germany. Including a few asbestos ones 😀

Those are great pics by the way. That MiG-21F is Czech-built by the way, i assume it’s put there in fake markings to complement the Vietnam-era collection?

There aren’t any VIP C-137s flying anymore. There are several aircraft with floodlights over the tail though. A bit of explanation with your question might be helpful though.

Just go to Wattisham. They get as low as 0ft there. Also, most helo bases will show you autorotation training untill you’re absolutely bored with it.

Apart from that, i can really recommend the night flying at Pruszcz Gdanski. Think Mi-24, think night, think fast, and think low…

I was a Commodore 64-kid when i was young. Spectrums never did it for me, i only got into rubber when i was a little older.

As for the games on that one: Boulderdash!

No problem. If you can insult it, then there has to be some somewhere :confused: