An Italian Air Force precision demonstration team flew a colorful green-white-red display over the Las Vegas Strip as part of a North American tour of Los Angeles and Huntington Beach, California, to mark America’s Independence Day.
LAS VEGAS– An Italian Air Force precision demonstration team made a colorful green-white-red flight over the Las Vegas Strip on Wednesday as part of a North American tour to Los Angeles and Huntington Beach, California, to mark America’s Independence Day.
The Italian Aeronautica Militare team is called Frecce Tricolori, or ‘Tricolor Arrows’ in English. It can be compared to the US Air Force’s Thunderbirds, which are stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas.
The Italian team flew over Arizona’s Grand Canyon on Wednesday and refueled at Nellis as part of a 2024 North American tour that includes nine events and 17 flyovers.
Lt. Col. Massimiliano Salvatore, the commander of Frecce Tricolori, noted in a statement from Nellis that the US-Canada tour is the Italian National Aerobatic Team’s first in more than three decades.
The wing is based at Rivolto air base in the northeastern Italian province of Udine. It has 10 pilots flying Italian-built Aermacchi MB-339 jets.
Flights are scheduled next week over the Californian cities of San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Francisco and Sacramento before heading to Canada.
Returning to the US, shows are scheduled for July 27-28 in Chicago and Milwaukee, followed by flights and events in August in cities including Philadelphia, New York, Washington, DC and Boston.
