More than 30 years after the last flight of its kind, the restored Fiat G-91R Fighter returned to the skies before the air show for the 100th anniversary of the Aeronautica Militare.
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The Fiat G-91R aircraft flew again today for the first time since it was retired in 1992. The fighter, restored by the Volafenice team of Renzo Catellani and the Italian Air Force, flew at the end of the morning this Tuesday 14/6 from Piacenza Air Base under the commands of retired General Maurizio Lodovisi, a former test pilot with more than 6,000 flight hours on his resume, and with an MB-326E acting as a chase plane.
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The aircraft was acquired in 2009 by Catellani, with the restoration beginning in 2021 at Piacenza Air Base, former home of the Italian Tornado ECR fleet. Last year, the Bristol Siddeley Orpheus engine of the G-91 was restarted, thanks to a customized compressed air system that replaced the old starting cartridges.
The aircraft, which was assigned to Wing 2 and at the time of retirement had unit number 2-57, has abandoned its old NATO camouflage and has now been painted with the colors of the Frecce Tricolori, with the same paint scheme the acrobatic team used on the G-91PAN until 1982, when it was replaced by the newer MB-399PAN.
The G-91 is an important part of the history of the Aeronautica Militare, with a service life of 35 years and 756 aircraft built. The aircraft, the last fully designed and built by Fiat Aviazione, also served abroad in Portugal and Germany and was evaluated by both the Army and the US Air Force for a light attack aircraft program that was later canceled.
The restored G-91 will now participate, along with many other historic aircraft, in the air show for the 100th anniversary of the Aeronautica Militare this week at the Pratica di Mare air base.
With information from theaviationist
