Why did Italians call the F-104 the "spillone"?

Short answer

Spillone means hatpin in Italian, and that is what Italian pilots called their F-104, a nickname that shaped, for better or worse, daily life in the Aeronautica Militare. A harsher one circulated in the press: bara volante, flying coffin, a translation of the German nickname Fliegender Sarg.

Published: October 31, 2026 · Updated: October 31, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Why did Italians call the F-104 the "spillone"?

F-104 right side view

Spillone and flying coffin

Italian pilots loved their Spillone, "hatpin" in Italian. With that name, the fighter marked, for better or worse, the daily life of the Aeronautica Militare. The pilots themselves also used a second nickname, bara volante, "flying coffin." That second name emerged from a debate often heated in the media about the aircraft's reliability, and was a translation of the German nickname Fliegender Sarg.

An Italian Starfighter

Italy chose the F-104S over other competing fighters in the mid-1960s and operated it longer than any other country. Aeritalia built 246 examples of the F-104S variants, of which 205 were delivered to Italy and 40 to Turkey, with deliveries continuing until 1979. The F-104S was the definitive Starfighter. Italy was the country that, more than any other, tied its fate to this interceptor.

Ten wings and nearly a million hours

The Aeronautica Militare used seven different versions of the F-104, which equipped ten wings and fifteen squadrons and accumulated just under a million flight hours. The last operational mission took place on October 31, 2004. Major Aurelio Covotta and Lieutenant Rolando Pellegrini flew the last training scramble.