It was declared written off at Decimomannu, Italy during the deployment of some F104's of 9Stormo. It had an accident during a normal ACMI mission. The main hatch door opened in flight and damaged the aircraft on the side and wing. The pilot (tactical name Mario) almost decided to eject due to control problems but he decided to analyse the situation and attempt an emergency landing without using its flaps. He succeeded gladly and after landing everybody could see the damages. It is not sure how it happened but it could be a failure of the crewchief or a fixing-problem. It was shipped to Grosseto (4 RMV) and there it was officially declared written off on June 26th 1995 with a total of 3523 flying hours. Beneath two photos, one showing the aircraft withdrawn from use with its wings removed, on the rainy flightline of Grosseto on January 31st, 1996. Second photo was taken at the dump of Grosseto during a visit on May 29th, 2001, the aircraft was seen there (Harry Prins) |