Grazzanise military airfield

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grazzanise military airfield
“Carlo Romagnoli”
Grazzanise military airfield (Italy)
Red pog.svg
Characteristics
ICAO code LIRM
Coordinates

41 ° 3 '39 "  N , 14 ° 4' 55"  E Coordinates: 41 ° 3 '39 "  N , 14 ° 4' 55"  E
Height above MSL 9 m (30  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 3 km south of Grazzanise
Street SS 7dir Via Appia
Local transport bus
Basic data
opening 1961
operator Aeronautica Militare
Start-and runway
06/24 2991 m × 30 m asphalt

i1 i3


i7 i10 i12 i14

BW

The Grazzanise military airfield is located in the southern Italian region of Campania , around 30 kilometers north of Naples and almost 20 kilometers west of the provincial capital Caserta in the area of ​​the municipality of Grazzanise .

history

The military airfield was built in the 1920s as a simple makeshift airfield. After the officers' school of the Italian Air Force, founded in 1923, moved into the Castle of Caserta at the end of 1926 , the airfields in Capua and Grazzanise were used for pilot training. In 1943 the airfield was destroyed by allied bombers and completely abandoned after 1945.

Starfighter in grazzanise

In its present form, the airfield was built in the late 1950s. From the end of 1961 it served as an advanced base of the 10th Fighter Squadron ( X Gruppo ) of the 4th Squadron ( 4º Stormo ) in Grosseto . In 1963, the squadron converted from the F-86 Saber to the F-104 Starfighter . On September 27, 1967, the Grazzanise airfield command became a squadron , the 9º Stormo , which had only one flying squadron with the X Gruppo . In a sub-unit of this season, the 91ª Squadriglia had in World War I , the flying ace Francesco Baracca served, one which is why in 1969 the whole 9 squadron named after him. It operated in this form with its Starfighter fighter squadron and a rescue helicopter unit on AB 212 until 2004. The latter provided valuable help in 1980 after the Irpinia earthquake and in 1998 after landslides in Sarno and some neighboring towns. In 1999 Denmark and Norway stationed some F-16 fighter planes in Grazzanise, from where they took part in Operation Allied Force over the former Yugoslavia .

Due to the delays in the introduction of the Eurofighter Typhoon , the Italian Air Force was forced to take the Starfighters , which had been upgraded several times, out of service and to replace them with leased F-16s. The latter were stationed in Cervia in northern Italy and in Trapani in Sicily. The 10th Fighter Squadron left Grazzanise in the direction of Trapani, where they used the F-16s until 2010, then they came to Gioia del Colle and converted to the Eurofighter .

In the meantime, the remaining rescue helicopter unit was expanded in Grazzanise. She should support a special unit of the air force and take on tasks in the field of Combat Search and Rescue . Eventually it was given the designation 21º Gruppo , which brought a former hunting squadron from Cameri in northern Italy to life. The 21º Gruppo has a tiger in its coat of arms, which is why it has participated in the NATO Tiger Meet since the 1960s . Thanks to the re-formation of the squadron, the Italian Air Force is again represented at these events with helicopters from Grazzanise.

In 2012, an unpaved, poorly paved runway was put into operation next to the previous asphalt runway. The purpose of this new runway is to prepare transport aircraft pilots in particular for missions abroad, where often only poorly prepared slopes are available.

At the end of 2012, the 2nd NATO Signal Battalion South , a multinational telecommunications association , was relocated to Grazzanise.

future

Since the civil airport of Naples has been operating at its capacity limit for a long time and cannot be expanded significantly due to urban planning restrictions, there were plans at the turn of the millennium to expand the relatively small military airfield Grazzanise into another commercial airport in the capital of Campania. At the beginning of 2013 these plans were abandoned entirely by the Italian government. The expansion of the Salerno airport , which is located further south, near the Amalfi Coast , is expected to ease the burden . After Grazzanise, US and NATO offices located in downtown Naples will be outsourced.

coat of arms

  • Coat of arms 9º Stormo Francesco Baracca

  • 10º group “Le Picchie”

  • 91ª Squadriglia degli Assi

Web links

Commons : Grazzanise Air Base  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files