Fiat G91PAN MM6244 returned home

Everyone who visited the splendid Museum of Flight at Boeing Field (Seattle) in the United States, should have noticed outside the Fiat G91PAN (Puttuglia Aerobatica Nazionale) MM6244/10 (construction number 10) in the striking blue Frecce Tricolori demonstration team livery.

The Museum of Flight has owned this Fiat G91PAN since the late 1980s. However, the Fiat G91PAN never seemed to fit within the Museum of Flight’s collection. The Fiat G91 is an Italian jet fighter aircraft designed and built by Fiat Aviazione, which later merged into Aeritalia.

The G91 has its origins in the NATO-organized competition in 1953, which sought a light fighter-bomber to be adopted as standard equipment across the air forces of the various NATO nations. After reviewing several candidates, the Fiat G91 was picked as the winning design of this competition.

The Fiat was taken in operational service with the Aeronautica Militare (ItAF, Italian Air Force) in 1961, and with the (former) West-German Luftwaffe in the following year. Another user was the Portuguese Air Force, who made extensive use of the type during the wars in Angola and Mozambique.

In 2020, the Museum of Flight decided to find a new home for the blue colored G91PAN and they found a new home back in Italy: Volandia Park and Flight Museum, the largest Italian aeronautical museum, near the Milan-Malpensa Airport.

Finally on 9 December 2021, it departed Norfolk on board the Italian container vessel ‘La Traviata’ and after 22 days and 9.000 kilometers, the G91PAN arrived back home in Italy.

With this new acquisition, Volandia added an important iconic airframe to their growing collection and it seems just in time to help celebrate the 2023 centenary of the Aeronautica Militare (ItAF, Italian Air Force).

Photos: Daniele Mattiuzzo and Italiavola