The final destination of an old Fiat G.91 Gina fighter on top of a mountain in northern Italy

@ElentirENG ES 7·06·2022 · 23:16 0

In 1956, the Italian Fiat G.91 Gina fighter made its first flight, a jet aircraft capable of exceeding 1,000 km/h and of which 756 serial units were built.

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This aircraft was operated by the air forces of Italy, Germany and Portugal. It was also evaluated by the United States and Greece, which ultimately failed to buy it. The G.91 had a long operational life compared to other aircraft of its time. Portugal retired it from service in 1993, replacing it with F-16s, while Italy retired its last G.91s in 1995.

The aircraft featured in this entry was a two-seater Fiat G.91T/1, with build number MM6362 and numeral 32-62. It served in the 32º Stormo (32nd Wing) of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana, based in Brindisi and later in Amendola. Surely this G.91T/1 was assigned to the 201º Gruppo Unità di Conversione Operativa, the conversion squadron of the 32º Stormo, in charge of training pilots for the G.91. From what I have read, it was in active service at least until 1993. After it was withdrawn from service, it was stored at the Amendola base, and later sent to the Bentivoglio scrapyard in Rome, where it was stored disassembled.

Ironically, today an old German G.91 made by Dornier is kept under construction number MM6362 in a museum in Montelimar, France. And while a German plane pretends to be it, what happened to the protagonist of this story? Well, a month ago it appeared in this video from Burton73, on top of Mount Mottolino, in the Italian Alps, very close to the border with Austria:

How did this old fighter end up on top of a mountain? Clearly he didn't fly in from a junkyard in Rome. Even if it had come flying, on that mountain it would be very difficult to land, and if it had crashed he would be in worse condition. Searching a bit I found a video from the Mottolino Fun Mountain channel that solves the mystery: in December 2012, the plane was taken from Rome to Livigno, in northern Italy, and from there it was uploaded to Mount Mottolino in a truck. The purpose of this move was to turn it into a tourist attraction, for skiers to jump on it.

As seen in this video, the plane was then more intact: it still had its nose. It is now heavily vandalized. A sad end for a fighter. Surely this G-91 would be better off in that museum in France where a German fighter masquerades as it, intact, well-polished, and covered by a hangar.

Under these lines you can see the location of this G.91 on Google Maps: