This DC-6 is really not easy to photograph without a drone, especially on a very foggy day. It was originally delivered to LAI in November 1953 and the company merged in 1957 with Alitalia - Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali, to form what was the modern-day Alitalia. The plane flew from 1961 to 1970 with SAM - Societa Aerea Medierranea, after which it joined the.Aeronautica Militare Italiana as MM61965. By 1988 it had become a disco in Bachero di Cingoli and from circa 2000 it was placed on top of this now defunct restaurant in Villamarzana.

Ex 42-49038, N8383. Flown here for preservation in June 1988. The real I-LEON was C-47 41-7816 (c/n 4316), which served with LAI from 1947 until 1957 and then in the Italian air force as MM61896. Note the F-104S Starfighter on the extreme left, MM6776, which is preserved at the Leonardo plant. TF-104G MM54228 rests close to the C-47, but is on military terrain.

Former restaurant, now abandoned

This is really C-47 N8383 - the real I-LEON was c/n 4316. It was flown from Florida to Turin in 1988 and painted in these colours for SAGAT, the operators of Turin airport, and placed on display near the main entry road in 1992.

This airline used 'funny registrations'. Company merged into Alitalia just a few months after this aircraft entered service. Photo from: ETH-Bibliothek Zürich