February 2018 FLYPAST 19http://www.fl ypast.com
The Italian Air Force Museum at
Vigne di Valle (also see Museums,
last issue) recently celebrated
its 40th anniversary by unveiling
the world’s only complete
Reggiane Re 2002 Ariete.
The single-seat fi ghter-
bomber is painted to represent
an aircraft of the Regia
Aeronautica’s 239 Squadriglia
during late 1943. Meanwhile,
the museum’s Lockheed PV-
Harpoon has been loaned to the
Piana delle Orme centre at Borgo
Faiti, near Latina.
Over the past year it has been
restored by volunteers and
now represents MM80074 of 87
Gruppo. The Harpoon arrived in
Italy in 1993 in an exchange with
the Fighter Collection at Duxford
for Canadair Sabre F.4 XB812.Reggiane
unveiled
at Italian
museum
KLM bids farewell to the Fokker
Dutch national carrier KLM has retired its last Fokker F70 airliner. Flight KL1070 fl ew from London Heathrow to Amsterdam in late October,
marking the last fl ight of any Fokker in Dutch hands. KLM had been fl ying various types of Fokker-built aircraft for 97 years. ROGER SOUPARTChinese Tracker on show in Taiwan
Grumman S-2T Tracker ‘2214’ has been preserved near the gate of Hsinchu air base, in northern Taiwan. The aircraft last fl ew with the Republic of
China Air Force and arrived at Hsinchu in 2017. The Chinese withdrew their last S-2Ts from service on December 1. ROBIN POLDERMAN
Blue Angels
Hornet on
museum ‘gate
guard’ duty
The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington,
has raised former US Navy Blue Angels
display team McDonnell Douglas F/A-
Hornet 163106 onto a plinth outside its main
entrance. The jet arrived at the attraction
in August 2016 and is on ‘permanent loan’
from the National Naval Aviation Museum in
Pensacola, Florida. PHOTO-JOE G WALKER