Grosseto military airfield

Grosseto “Corrado Baccarini” military airfield
Characteristics
ICAO code	LIRS
IATA code	GRS
Coordinates	42 ° 45 '35 "  N , 11 ° 4' 19"  E Coordinates: 42 ° 45 '35 "  N , 11 ° 4' 19"  E
Height above MSL	5 m (16  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center	2 km west of Grosseto
Street	SS 1 Via Aurelia , SP 3
train	Grosseto train station
Local transport	bus
Basic data
opening	1926
operator	Aeronautica Militare SEAM
Terminals	1
Runways
03/21	2994 m × 45 m asphalt
03R / 21L	2356 m × 24 m asphalt

The Grosseto military airfield is located in the central Italian region of Tuscany , around two kilometers west of the provincial capital Grosseto . It is also open to civil aviation to a limited extent. For this reason it is also known as Aeroporto di Grosseto or called Aeroporto della Maremma after its location in the Maremma .

Infrastructure

The airfield has a runway that is almost three kilometers long (03/21). A taxiway running parallel to it can be used as an additional runway if necessary. The railways are surrounded by military installations in the north, west and south. They are used by the 4º Stormo , a fighter squadron of the Italian Air Force equipped with Eurofighter Typhoon . The main entrance to the base is in the north on the SP 3 road.

There is a small civil part to the east of the slopes. There is a small apron and a small terminal building , which can be reached from the east via Via Andrea Orcagna . A maximum of two passenger aircraft the size of an A320 can be handled at the same time, plus General Aviation , which is licensed in Grosseto . The local aero club is also located here.

history

Before the First World War , some airfields were established near Grosseto. During the war, the Ansaldo company tested SVA double-deckers here . Today's military airfield was built in 1926. After some expansion measures, a flight school was set up in 1935 , at which NCOs were trained to be pilots, including on the Caproni Ca.100 and IMAM Ro.37 models, and from 1940 on the Caproni Ca.310, among others .

During the Second World War , the Wehrmacht's Luftwaffe occupied the site and operated the Luftwaffe torpedo school here from 1939 to June 1943 (renamed Kampfschulgeschwader 2 from June 1941, renamed Kampfgeschwader 102 from March 1943 ). Because of this, German combat squadrons were relocated here again and again during this period, with their focus on sinking ships. From December 1941 to April 1042 the II. Group of Kampfgeschwader 40 (II./KG 40) with the Dornier Do 217 and from February to April 1942 the III./KG 26 ( Heinkel He 111H ) were stationed here. From November 1942 to January 1943 the entire Kampfgeschwader 26 was here before the II./KG 76 ( Junkers Ju 88A ) arrived in July 1943 . In April and May 1943, US bombers attacked the airfield and the city of Grosseto and caused serious damage. The advancing Allies occupied the airfield on June 15, 1944 and made makeshift repairs. In 1944/45 several US units operated from here: the 57th Fighter Group and the 86th Fighter Group on P-47 Thunderbolt and the 47th Bombardment Group on A-20B Havoc and A-26 Invader .

After the end of the war, the military airfield remained orphaned for several years. Limited reconstruction measures enabled modest civil use in the early 1950s. Because of the escalating Cold War , it was decided to expand it again into a military airfield, which was largely completed by 1958. From 1959 the 4th Fighter Squadron , which is still stationed in Grosseto, moved from Pratica di Mare near Rome to the Tuscan airfield. In accordance with the air force structure at that time, the association had a brigade status ( 4ª Aerobrigata ) with three flying squadrons ( IX., X. and XII. Gruppo ) on F-86K Saber . Since the Rome-Fiumicino airport , not far from Pratica di Mare, was to open in 1960 , a hunting association of this size could no longer stay in the immediate vicinity of the major civil airport for air safety reasons . The 9th squadron definitely moved to Grosseto with the squadron staff, the 10th squadron used the Grazzanise military airfield near Naples , and the 12th squadron used the Gioia del Colle airfield near Bari as an advanced base. After the conversion to the F-104 Starfighter , the latter two units remained entirely on these bases from 1966 and were subordinated to the squadrons located there. In return, they received a training squadron (20th) in Grosseto, which trained all future Italian Starfighter pilots for almost four decades .

In March 2004, the 4th squadron in Grosseto received its first series "Eurofighter" and was the first Italian squadron to start converting to the new fighter aircraft. In the course of testing the F / TF-2000A Typhoon , the Italian name for the jet, a competition took place in December 2004 that attracted a lot of attention. On the runway of the Grosseto military airfield, Michael Schumacher competed in a Ferrari F2003-GA against a two-seater "Eurofighter" TF-2000A, which was piloted by test pilot Maurizio Cheli . Schumacher won the 600-meter acceleration race, and had to admit defeat to the Eurofighter Chelis on the 900 and 1200-meter distances .

Todays use

In addition to Gioia del Colle, the Grosseto military airfield is one of the two main operating bases of the Eurofighter F / TF-2000A Typhoon . As with the Starfighter pilots, all aspiring Italian Typhoon pilots are trained in Grosseto. In addition, the squadron provides the QRA fleet to secure the airspace over central Italy.

It is also approached by transport planes that pick up paratroopers from Siena . He also plays a role for the Savoia Cavalleria cavalry regiment stationed in Grosseto .

Civil use

A small civil part was set up a few years after the military airfield was reopened. It should contribute to the tourist development of the structurally weak Maremma area, the Monte Argentario peninsula and the Tuscan archipelago . In the 1960s and 1970s, Grosseto handled around 15,000 passengers a year. The airfield was served by various European charter airlines, after 1990 also from Russia . In 1989, the company Società di Esercizio dell'Aeroporto della Maremma SpA (SEAM) was founded to operate the civilian part . As a result, the apron was expanded somewhat and a new terminal building was opened in 2000 with an annual capacity of around 100,000 passengers.

Web links

• Airport data on World Aero Data ( 2006 )
• Official website of the 4th Squadron (it.)
• Official website of the civil airport operator (it./en.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV: Air Force Airfields 1935-45 Italy, Sicily and Sardinia , pp 109-111 , accessed on May 15 of 2019.