ITALIAN AIR FORC
D
uring World War II, Sigonella was selected as an alternate airfield for the 281 st Torpedo Bombers Squadron flying the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero aircraft based at Catania-Fontanarossa and Gerbini. After WWII, the airfield was abandoned but in 1952 the 87 Squadron of the ltalian Air Force started flying from Catania-Fontanarossa with Harpoon PV-2 aircraft, using Sigonella on occasions as an alternate base. On 25 June 1957, the ltalian Government signed an agreement with the US Government for the use of Sigonella as a Naval Air Facility (NAF). This was a result of an expansion problem in Hal Far, Malta when plans were made to base U.S. Navy P2V Neptunes. By the end of August 1959, operational activity began at the NAF airfield. lmmediately thereafter,the Italian Air Force 87th Gruppo started flying from Sigonella with Grumman S2F-1 Tracker for maritime patrol.
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The 41st Wing was reactivated on 1 st October 1965, after the 87th and the 88th Antisom Squadron based at Catania, both equipped with the S2F-1 joined together to form the 41st Antisubmarine Wing. In 1971, the 88th Antisom Squadron based in Catania also moved to Sigonella. In 1982, the ltalian Air Force bought 18 Breguet BR1150 Atlantic aircraft to replace the aging Trackers. Nine of them were assigned to the 41° Wing and nine to the 30° Wing based in Cagliari, Sardinia. In 1978, the 41° Wing moved from CataniaFontanarossa to Sigonella and the 87th Gruppo was disbanded. In 2002, the 30° Wing in Cagliari was disbanded and the Antisom component was merged in the 41° Stormo in Sigonella which was followed by the creation of the 86° Centro Addestramento Equipaggi (Training Crew Squadron). Therefore, the 41 ° Stormo until this day has one Operational
This F-104S-ASA Starfighter (c/n 783-1116) left the pr to the Italian Air Force on 26 September 1973. On 21 S accumulated 4,363 flight hours. Today this iconic aircra
