Texas renaissance Stylish S.211s find post-military careers BY DAVE HIRSCHMAN PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE FIZER THE TAILPIPE OF THE ORANGE AND WHITE JET fills your windscreen as you follow it upward into a cloudless blue Texas sky. Steadily rising G-forces pull you firmly against the (deactivated) ejection seat as the sleek, two-seat, Marchetti S.211 jet nearly identical to the one you're flying charges ever more steeply skyward. Then the airplane ahead starts a gradual roll to the left, and the gravitational forces pulling against you quickly relent. Slight left aileron and a barely perceptible relaxation in elevator pressure is all it takes to stay in position behind the lead jet as it gracefully guides you through a barrel roll, the flat and razor-sharp north Texas horizon rotating a full 360 degrees as the relative position of the two airplanes barely changes. 66 AOPA PILOT / August 2021