Foggia Airfield Complex
Foggia Airfield Complex was the name used by the Allies during World War II and is still better known today for more than 30 military airfields and field airfields in the southern Italian province of Foggia and in neighboring areas. Several of these airfields were set up as early as the First World War . Almost all of them were abandoned after World War II. Today only the civil airport Foggia and the military airfield Amendola exist .
history
The wide plains of the Tavoliere delle Puglie in the north of Apulia were already regarded as particularly suitable for the construction of military airfields in the early days of Italian military aviation . The first airfields in the region served primarily as bases for missions over the Adriatic and the Balkans and for training purposes during the First World War . Starting in 1917 , around 400 US pilots were trained in Foggia under the command of the future mayor of New York , Fiorello LaGuardia , among others on Italian bombers of the Caproni Ca.3 type . Even after the First World War, some of the airfields were primarily used for pilot training and, as part of a special agreement, also for training pilots of the new German Wehrmacht . Foggia Airport, which is now civil, was also used for civil purposes from 1922.
During the Second World War, the airfields were used by Italian and German associations for military operations in the Balkans. The German Air Force tested, among other things, the remote-controlled Fritz X bomb in the region . After the armistice of Cassibile , the airfields devastated by heavy Allied air raids were temporarily taken over by the German Air Force in early September 1943 and shortly afterwards occupied by Allied invasion troops. In particular, the United States Army Corps of Engineers restored the airfields or built new ones, often using sand sheets . The British Royal Air Force and US units of the 15th Air Force used the airfields until 1945 for their combined bomber offensive against targets in northern Italy, southern France, southern Germany, Austria and the Balkans.
The former airfields of Foggia have been mainly used for agriculture since the end of the war. Today, the contours of military use can mostly only be seen in aerial photographs .
Overview
The Bari airport , formerly headquarters of the 15th Air Force , not one of the airfields of Foggia. For some airfields, different names can be found in the sources given below. The following table does not claim to be complete; it is gradually being improved. The abbreviations FG, BG and RG stand for Fighter , Bombardment and Reconnaissance Groups (or W for Wings ) of the American Air Force, Sqn for Squadrons of the British RAF or Commonwealth Nations . In the case of links to the location in brackets, the exact coordinates are still missing.
| Airfield | location | Facility | use | annotation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amendola | ⊙ | RA ; Sept. 43, CoE | 57 FG; 2, 97, 321 BG | active, 32º Stormo |
| Biferno near Campomarino | ⊙ | Nov. 43, CoE | RAF ; SAAF ; 15 AF; ICBAF | also Campomarino called |
| Bovino | ( ⊙ ) | |||
| Canne at Campomarino | ⊙ | Nov. 43, CoE | 6, 73, 241, 253, 351, 352 Sqn RAF; 20 GP ICBAF | |
| Castelluccio dei Sauri | ⊙ | Feb. 44, CoE | 451 BG | |
| Castiglione | ( ⊙ ) | |||
| Celone near Foggia | ⊙ | RA; Feb. 44, CoE | I., II./LG1 , I., III./KG6 / 463 BG | connected with San Nicola d'Arpi ; Called Foggia Satellite 1 |
| Cerignola | ⊙ | RA | 57 FG; 97, 301, 304, 456 BG | |
| Fandetta | ⊙ | RA | Also Foggia Satellite 4 called | |
| Gino Lisa | ⊙ | RA | 57, 79, 325 FG; 306 FW; 2, 12, 340 BG; 5, 57 BW | Called Foggia South and Foggia Main ; now a civil airport |
| Giulia at Cerignola | ⊙ | Jan. 44, CoE | 459 BG | also Cerignola Satellite 1 |
| Giuliani | ( ⊙ ) | |||
| Lesina | ⊙ | Feb. 44, CoE | 1, 14, 52, 82, 325 FG; 306 FW | |
| Lucera near Foggia | ⊙ | Lw; Feb. 44, CoE | I./LG1 , II./JG77 , II., III./JG53 / 306 FW; 332 FG; 301 BG | also Foggia Satellite 12 |
| Lupara | ( ⊙ ) | |||
| Madna near Campomarino | ⊙ | Nov. 43, CoE | 52, 79 FG | (actually Madana) |
| Morin | ⊙ | RA | also Foggia Satellite 5 | |
| Nocelli | ( ⊙ ) | |||
| Nuova (Cliternia) near Campomarino | ⊙ | Nov. 43, CoE | 12, 15th AF; RAF; 9, 101 Gp ICBAF | |
| Orta Nova | ⊙ | also called Borgo Mezzanone | ||
| Palata | ⊙ | 10, 20, 101 Gp ICBAF; 241 Sqn RAF; 1, 2, 4 Sqn SAAF | ||
| Palimori | ( ⊙ ) | |||
| Pantanella near Cerignola | ⊙ | March 44, CoE | 464, 465 BG | |
| Passo Breccioso | ( ⊙ ) | |||
| Pellegrini | ( ⊙ ) | |||
| Posta Augello | ( ⊙ ) | also Foggia Satellite 8 | ||
| Radogna | ⊙ | also Foggia Satellite 6 | ||
| Ramitelli at Campomarino | ⊙ | Feb. 44, CoE | 332 FG | |
| Regina | ( ⊙ ) | also Foggia Satellite 6 | ||
| Salsola | ⊙ | RA; Nov. 43, CoE | III./KG 54/1 FG | also Schifata , Schifara , Foggia Satellite 3 |
| Sant'Andrea | ( ⊙ ) | also Foggia Satellite 10 | ||
| San Giovanni near Cerignola | ⊙ | Jan. 44, CoE | 454, 455 BG | |
| Santa Giusta | ⊙ | RA | ||
| San Nicola d'Arpi | ( ⊙ ) | Also Foggia North , Filiasi , Foggia Satellite 1 named | ||
| San Severo | ⊙ | 42, Lw; Sept. 43, CoE | IV./JG3 , I./JG53 , I./JG77 / 31 FG, 3, 5 RG; 90 RW; 680 Sqn RAF | |
| Spinazzola | ⊙ | Jan. 44, CoE | 55, 305 BW; 460 BG | |
| Sterparone | ⊙ | CoE, from Sept. 43 | 483 BG | |
| Stornara at Cerignola | ⊙ | Jan. 44, CoE | 456 BG | |
| Torre dei Junchi near San Severo | ⊙ | |||
| Torremaggiore | ( ⊙ ) | |||
| Torretta near Cerignola | ⊙ | Dec. 43, CoE | RAF; 461, 484 BG | also Cerignola Satellite 3 |
| Tortorella near Foggia | ⊙ | 41, RA / Lw; Dec. 43, CoE | I.–III./KG76 , III./KG54 / 99 BG; 205 Gp. RAF | also Foggia Satellite 2 |
| Trinitapoli | ( ⊙ ) | |||
| Triolo (Amendola) near San Severo | ⊙ | RA | Foggia Satellite 9 | |
| Triolo (Zanotti) near San Severo | ⊙ | RA, CoE | 14, 31 FG | Foggia Satellite 7 |
| Venosa | ⊙ | March 44, CoE | 485 BG | |
| Vincenzo at Barletta | ⊙ | Sept. 43, CoE | 1, 82, 325 FG; 47, 321 BG | also Foggia Satellite 11 |
photos
Vickers Wellington , Foggia Main
Foggia Main , 1944
Tortorella Airfield, 1945
Talbot House Club , San Severo
