Watch more videos of this event or by other airshows on the following playlists of my channel below. 🙂 Pratica di Mare Airshow 2023: kzfaq.info/sun/PL_kDcX2_3upoOPcXu2fz5jejtujQZfJOY Airshows: kzfaq.info/sun/PL_kDcX2_3upoftlBOhtnzEPE_eiDNejG- F-104 Starfighter: kzfaq.info/sun/PL_kDcX2_3uppahKPMWn4uJ1IqS7cFZ0MO Jets: kzfaq.info/sun/PL_kDcX2_3upqqnKNHmGngQddPAaTBomeg

I still think that this is one of the most aesthetically beautiful planes ever produced...the lines, the proportions, the sound...it's such a 'hot rod'. Love it.

I grew up 4 km south west of Lagerlechfeld Luftwaffe base in Germany, and the F 104's turned right after take off straight over our town. I just loved watching the planes, for some reason the other towns people complained about noise. I thought it was the greatest thing ever.

For a 50+ year old plane, that is impressive and the fact that they are now being civilian owned and flown is absolutely astonishing!

The Starfighter STILL looks futuristic.

Used to see these when on detachment to Decimomannu in Sardinia on APC brill days. Saw them on the gunnery range at cape de frasca.

"spillone" will be always our hero, no matter if other say it's good or bad. The 104 do the job required from italy: scramble fast, climb fast, intercept, faster than newer warbird.

Thanks to everyone who made the Starfighter fly again. Great to see one back in the air again.

It takes a lot of you-know-whats to fly an F-104, and that team is obviously well-trained and knows what they're doing! One of my best airshow moments was as a junior enlisted airman in survival school at Fairchild AFB, WA. I had the weekend off (before being tortured in E&E training) and sat out on the lawn in front of the barracks watching from a slight distance, and a CF-104 was doing a demo and he screamed right over the top of me at about 100' AGL in full burner and I could see the pilot's eyes. It was almost better than... um that other thing that's really great. I was just shouting as loud as I could and pumping my fist in the air. That was 1982, I was 19, that's how much I remember it.

That characteristic howl of those GE J-79s is unmistakable. The later engine variants were smokeless. What a gorgeous aircraft. BRAVO \m/

Wonderful!!! Love the F104, so to stumble across this video of one that is still airworthy is incredible. Thankyou 👍👍😃

What a plane. What a pilot. Awesome video👍🏻

I remember Starfighters and Fiat G91 flying along side Rimini Beach during vacation in summer 1980 - nice to see, that this jet is airworthy!

Eternal love for the F 104! Well filmed!

This unique sound of the J79. Unforgettable and at its best with the F-104.

I always loved the Starfighter, but the fuselage and tail art is pretty cool. The overall paint scheme is awesome.

Never seen a Starfighter with arresting gear before, very cool! Nice flight, excellent post!

I grew up to the sound of F-86s, but I miss this sound the most! Thanks!!

Best and fastest interceptor! I love it! And the howl, amazing!!!👍

Thx for posting. Such an iconic aircraft with so much history. The 2 seat variant doesn't destroy the 104's beautiful lines. Glad to see it airborne again - a legend from the golden age of the Kelly Johnson era of innovation, pushing the envelope of aerodynamics, and how we achieve high performance flight characteristics. How much fun would it have been to work for Lockheed back in those days?! 🙂

In my view the most beautiful fighter jet ever made.

The 'Howl' drowned out everything!. Its fantastic. I used to stand at the coast at Alberese and listen to them approach Grosetto from the sea.... The 'Howl'... it was beautifully haunting...

Thinking back now, to when I was last standing fairly close to a parked F-104 Starfighter at the RAF Alconbury airshow, while the pilot was running up the J79. This video aptly demonstrates what I was listening to at the time, and I wasn't wearing any ear protection. When I left the area a little later, I could hardly hear anything at all for quite a while afterwards. Great sound though, was well worth that deafening experience. Absolutely fabulous, great video, brings back some great memories. Easily one of the best Lockheed Century Series, interceptor jet fighters ever👍😎

Good Morning, in yearly 2001, I saw for the very time flying these TF-104 in Sicily ( Trapani ). it was amazing 👌👌😇Thank you for making this video ( that engine noise, drag chute !!! ) Cheers 🍻

I love this plane since I was a child...and still do it now

My Dad was in the RCAF and was an aero engine tech, I was in Marville France and Lahr Germany, and then again in Cold Lake and I fell asleep at night to the howl of those engines while testing them.

The opening sequence brings me back to when I was a teen and wanted above all else to watch in cinemas " The right stuff".

I love this plane, I had a master mechanic and a run up license in den 1964 - 1973 by the German Air Force.

truely amazing just awesome to see her fly again an the paint theme is awesome

Watched many fly from Diyarbakir, Turkey where our UH-60's were temporarily based in April-June 1991.

The F-104 is simply superb!

Unbelievable wing loading. I understand it has the highest wing loading of all fighters at 722 kg/m2 and a stall speed of over 170 kts. Makes the little C152 I used to fly seem a little, um... docile! Great footage and many thanks. The F104 has long been favourite of mine and it's wonderful to see one still flying! Cheers from Sydney, Aust - Dave

LOVE IT !!! I remember the F104 whistle from Webb AFB in Big Spring Texas in the early 1960's !!!

This must have been quite a logistical challenge to get it from Florida over the big pond to Italy!

To fly a Kelly Johnson creation: Priceless

Great job by the pilot- like others have commented heard this plane could be a handful on landing and aggressive maneuvers... he made that loop look easy and spot on landing. Two seats on that beast - sign me up!

Absolutely fabulous thank you so much for your superb camera work ❤

So awesome to see and hear such a beauty fly again! 😍

This is nice! We can't get enough of this one-o-four.

Wonderful video. The pilot and citizens are just as wonderful as that Cold War aircraft.

I vividly recall (and miss) the 70s and 80s when those birds roared above our house in low flying training over and over again. A pure joy for me.

Fantastic video. I see the Italians have a fine appreciation of American air-power, maybe not our cars or art. Cheers from Texas

Missle with a man in it. Beatiful aircraft. Nice work gentlemen.

What a rare and beautiful bird! One of my all time favorites

I can remember flying to Pratica some 35 years ago. When approaching, the TWR did not answer our initial calls - unless our CDR adressed him with "Spaghetti Tower" - immediately we heard "a donta calla me Spaghetti..." I loved working with my Italian comreades, really! Always nice guys and great hosts!

Love that howling sound unique to the Starfighter.

This was the "starship" of my childhood. What an amazing thing to see it fly again. Thank you, Italians!

What a beautiful, historic moment it is! I do hope we can see this marvellous Starfighter some time in the future in Hungary as well.

ABout 15 years ago when living in Oregon, I was fortunate to have a friend who belonged to a warbird club as he invited me to the monthly meetings...... One meeting was at Hillsboro Airport at someones hangar.... The guy had 4 F104's he was rebuilding... One was a two place trainer..... Thought I had gone to heaven....

A nice return for newer generations to enjoy.

My ground school instructor back in the day was a retired F104 pilot. I remember he brought his ‘Mach 2’ card given to him by Lockheed to prove he was a twice the seed of sound man to class one day. Pretty cool!

Massive engine, wings and pilot were an afterthought

The pinnical of the art of turning money in to noise. Love it

Love the howl the Starfighter makes!

i remember their distinct sound and the exhaust trails from my early chidhopod days, circa 80's.

"Don't we need two J-79s?" "Nah. The airplane will be tiny. One should be more than enough."

Bellissimo, l'ho visto decollare un sacco di volte al 36° stormo di Gioia del colle ed è stato fantastico rivederlo💪👏👏👏

bellissimo :) the formation flying was a fantastic tribute to this great bird :) thank you.

My dad would love this. Worked with GAF on these for many years. Aufklärungsgeschwader 51 "Immelmann" based at Ingolstadt

The best video yet of Black Beauty at LIRE 100th anni airshow!

AMAZING aircraft.

Wow, was für ein Highlight. Super, das Du vor Ort gewesen bist und diese klasse Aufnahmen machen konntest. Besonders gut gefällt mir der Formationsflug. Daumen hoch! Gruss inselvideo.

Очень красивая машина!! Изящная,в полёте прекрасно смотрится!!

In my youth i could often hear them howling in the distance but no sight of them. I will never forget that. You did not see them but you knew they were there...

Indémodable , les 2 plus beaux avions des années 60 ..70 ,le Mirage IlI et le F104 .Merci 👍

Awesome aircraft great to see this era of military jet flying.

Beautiful Aircraft. A 104 was the first aircraft I recovered while helping enroute in the USAF way back in 1981 when one came down from Canada to Wurtsmith. Not sure the guy with the hat should be wearing it around a running aircraft, but hey...

AH, THAT J79 SMOKE TRAIL… WHAT A ROMANTIC…JET !

Thanks! Compliments to the pilot and maintainers

That F-104 howl... 😍😍😍

A few people who dig the F-104 may not know about a film short featuring the Starfighter Search for _High Flight_ There are a few examples to choose from on YT

All the credits to the technicians....

Hi, I am the guy above the ladder who is working on the tail of the plane. Thank you for the beautiful video. Peace from Italy

So beautiful plane, I saw it close and it's perfect and very smooth job on the fuselage

still the same fabulous engine sound!!!😍

Wow the f104 makes so much more noise than any of them. Great filming

Ah yes, "The Widow Maker", The Missile with the Man inside", The Lawn Dart", no matter what you call this jet. The aircraft design was decades ahead of it's time!! Kelly Johnson was an aeronautical engineering genius!!!

Just adding my kudos to those from the rest of the choir here--congratulations to the Starfighters team for maintaining several of these magnificent and highly capable aircraft airworthy for advanced experimental test activity and an occasional airshow...

The 104's fly out of Kennedy Space Center regularly, there's a small group that has a several of them restored. They have a hanger at the Shuttle landing Facility, I meet one of the pilots standing in line for lunch a few years ago. If memory serves, he said they take up high end clientele for rides....

Impressive that the Starfighter made the trip all the way from Florida! Bravo!

j grew up on a farm near an airfield in Araxos [Gr] and this beauty was flying over me during my childhood, later I serve for 2 years in that airbase... I loved that period... but my favored airplane remains the F-5 ... even though I didn't have the honor of serving it...

I loooove seeing old model fighters brought back to life and flown again. The one I wish I had the money to buy and restore would be a F-105. Best looking aircraft ever produced to me personally, but sadly I believe there are none in flying condition present day.

Still SOUNDS INCREDIBLE !

With such small wings, it's more a missile than a jet plane.

Gotta love the way that J79-GE-11A Engine howls . There’s no sound like it ❤

#3.2👍🎉😀⚡A true beauty from Kelly Johnson! A rocket with wings😤

Yeeeeeeessssssssssssss!!!! Bravo !!!!!!!!.......From GREECE with Love.....tears!!!!!

From 79 to 83 i got trained to fix this Beauty.....soon after it went out of Services in Germany... Here you see the 2 seat Trainer....very seldom. But just one guy in the Cockpit.......what a waste. Even the run up war nice....

Thank you for showing this extraordinary plane. 55 years ago it was normal to see starfighters and purtroppo it was normal to read about accidents in the newspaper. Very well done this job. It is more than 10 times of work at the ground to keep this wingrocket flying one time.

Thank you. The fighter which I maintained more than 15 years. The unique metallic sound that I thought to never anymore have that I hear it remembers the active play times.

Awwwwwwwe, that J79 spool up, sounds like angels singing from Heaven!

Beautiful performance. The F-104 was in the Air Force the same time I was. Great memories.

From WC USA, this was my favorite jet fighter, I used to love seeing them fly low over our radar site in Germany, the sound was terrifying though!

The pinnacle of cool! 👍🏻🍺❤️😎

So the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is about 70 years old in design and service, and it still keeps up with current designs, it's superfast and is awesome to gaze upon, noone builds fighter jets like the USA, a fact

Great video knight flight video, amazing aircraft, have always loved it from being a little boy, unmistakable howl, iconic aircraft 👌👍😀

Beautiful aircraft....

When I was born in 1965, this F-104s participated in the Indo-Pak war! Pakistan Airforce had this aircraft then which outperformed the Indian Mig-21s in air battle!!! I think that was the first tiime when a F-104 took part in real air battles and shot down Migs. Later in 2008, I visited Pakistan Air Force Museum in Karachi and could find one kept there as memento. It's a wonder that F-104 could fly after so many years! American engineering...[ I was from East Pakistan, now it's Bangladesh].

Thank you!

A wonderful and fantastic aircraft !