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 Luigino Caliaro of Italy traces his aerial photo career to the time when he climbed with camera into the cockpit of a Tucano of Britain’s Royal Air Force. Since then, he has amassed eighty hours in military jets and more than 200 hours in tankers, transports, and helicopters. He is a regular photo contributor to Aeronautica e Difesa, JP4, and Iumsta Aeronautica, the official magazine of the Italian Air Force. He also contributes to France’s Air Fan and England’s World Air Power Journal. His broad fighter photo experience includes the German MiG-29, F-4F Phantom, Tornado, and Alpha Jet; French Mirage; Portuguese F-16; Slovak MiG-21; and F-16s of the US Air Force and ANG. He has also flown with several air demonstration teams, including the Italian Frecce Tricolori, Spanish Patrulla Aguila, French Patrouille de France, British Red Arrows, and South African Silver Falcons. Caliaro’s company, Aerophoto, produces an annual fighter calendar.
“Some of the photos I included for Code One were taken in April 1997 during a flight over central New Mexico in an F-16D Block 40 from the New Mexico ANG. We flew a training sortie over White Sands Missile Range in very poor weather conditions. The Portuguese Air Force photos were taken last June near the Monte Real Air Base. The first part of the mission was dedicated to photos; the remainder was dedicated to a dogfight against two other F-16s. We turned very hard, often pulling more than seven g’s. At the end of the flight, I was very tired. But I felt like Maverick in the popular movie Topgun!”
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