to Harrier procurement. Of the 337
McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier IIs
produced, Italy took 18 including a pair
of dual-seat TAV-8Bs and 16 single-seat,
radar-equipped, AV-8B+ models. All but
two of them remain in service today
at Grottaglie in southern Italy with the
Primo Gruppo Aereo Marina Militare.
The two TAV-8Bs were built in the
US and delivered in February 1991 to
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point,
North Carolina, where the ‘Lupi’ (‘Wolves’)
squadron was initially established. These
aircraft were moved by sea to Grottaglie
in August 1991 aboard the Garibaldi and
immediately began trials and clearance
work with Italian vessels, mainly the
carrier. The rst three single-seaterswere also built in St Louis, Missouri,
and delivered in 1994 to Cherry Point,
where eet pilots began their conversion
courses in partnership with the US Marine
Corps. By 1997, Alenia Aeronautica had
assembled the remaining 13 Harriers in
Italy using Boeing-supplied kits.be abolished. The writing was already
on the wall — construction of the
Giuseppe Garibaldi (CVH 551) in 1981
was a clear sign of xed-wing ambitions.
It was introduced as an ‘Incrociatore
Portaeromobili’ — an ‘aircraft-carrying
cruiser’, but only for anti-submarine
warfare (ASW) helicopters. The 6.5° ski-
jump on the foredeck was passed o as a
means of protection against sea spray...
Hawker Siddeley had already
demonstrated the Harrier aboard the
helicopter carrier Andrea Doria in 1968
and both the British Sea Harrier and the
AV-8B Harrier II had been the subject of
a prolonged evaluation by the service.
The xed-wing law was repealed on
February 1, 1989, opening the doorhttp://www.combataircraft.net // April 2018 77
76-83 Italian Harriers C.indd 77 15/02/2018 13:50