avia.wikisort.org - AerodromePonte Olivo Airfield is an abandoned pre-World War II airport and later wartime military airfield in Sicily, 3 km north of Gela. Its last known use was by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force in 1944 during the Italian Campaign.
Ponte Olivo Airfield
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Coordinates | 37°07′51.68″N 14°19′17.27″E |
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Type | Military airfield |
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Controlled by | United States Army Air Forces |
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Condition | Abandoned |
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Built | Civil airfield prior to World War II |
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In use | 1920s?-1944 |
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Location of Ponte Olivo Airfield, Italy
History
Originally built as Ponte Olivo Airport in the 1920s, the airport in September 1939 became base for the 41st Storm of the Italian Regia Aeronautica with 18 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 that were later transferred (in October 1940) to the Italian bases round Benghazi in Cyrenaica. Together with Comiso Airport it was extensively used for the bombing of the British bases on the Maltese islands. It was the primary objective of the Amphibious Battle of Gela during Operation Husky. On 9 July 1943, the United States Army 82d Airborne Division 505th Regimental Combat Team and the 3d Battalion of the 504th Parachute Regiment was carried by 226 C-47 Skytrains of the 61st, 313th, 314th and 316th Troop Carrier Groups, which departed from Kairouan Airfield, Tunisia. The parachutists mission was to seize the high ground near the airport and to assist the seaborne forces of U.S. II Corps, Seventh Army, in capture of the airfield. Although the parachute drops were widely scattered, the objective was taken. This was the first major airborne operation to be undertaken by Allied forces in World War II.[1] By morning, only 400 of the Regiment's 1600 soldiers had reached the objective area. The others had been dropped in isolated groups on all parts of the island and carried out demolitions, cut lines of communication, established island roadblocks, ambushed German and Italian motorized columns, and caused so much confusion over such an extensive area that initial German radio reports estimated the number of American parachutists dropped to be over ten times the actual number.
Renamed Ponte Olivo Airfield or Gela Airfield by the Americans, the USAAF Twelfth Air Force 27th Fighter Bomber Group landed A-36 Apache ground support aircraft on the field as soon as it was declared secure for operations, supporting ground forces against the German and Italian forces.
The 27th moved to Capaccio Airfield in southern Italy during September. Other units assigned to the airfield were:
- HQ, 64th Fighter Wing, 12 July – 1 September 1943
- HQ, 51st Troop Carrier Wing, 29 August – 29 September 1943
- 12th Bombardment Group, 2–22 August 1943, B-25 Mitchell (9th AF)
- 86th Bombardment Group, 21 July – 27 August 1943, A-36 Apache
- 31st Fighter Group, 13–21 July 1943, Spitfire
- 60th Troop Carrier Group, 31 August – 29 October 1943, C-47 Skytrain
- 62d Troop Carrier Group, 6 September 1943 – February 1944, C-47 Skytrain
The USAAF closed its facilities at the airfield at the end of September 1944, and returned the airport to Italian authorities.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s it was reused as a private airport by Enrico Mattei and other managers of the Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI) for inspections on the nearby petrochemical refineries. On 27 October 1962 at 07:30, Mattei took off from Ponte Olivo airport for the last time with ENI's private plane, a Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris, not knowing he would die a few hours later in the skies of northern Italt when the plane exploded.
Today there are little or no remains of the airfield, with some faint land disturbances visible on aerial photography of its former runways. Some buildings in the area may have been reused and adapted for other purposes.
References
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
- Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
- "Chronology, 1941–1945". Compiled by Mary H. Williams. United States Army in World War II: Special Studies. (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1960., Journal of American History, Volume 47, Issue 2, September 1960, p. 365, doi:10.2307/1891770
External links
 USAAF Twelfth Air Force in World War II |
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Stations |
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Morocco | |
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Algeria | |
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Tunisia | |
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Italy | |
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France | |
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Units |
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Commands |
- XII Bomber
- XII Tactical Air
- XXII Tactical Air
- XII Troop Carrier (Provisional)
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Wings |
- 5th Bombardment
- 42d Bombardment
- 47th Bombardment (7th Fighter)
- 51st Troop Carrier
- 52d Troop Carrier
- 57th Bombardment
- 62d Fighter
- 63d Fighter
- 64th Fighter
- 87th Fighter
- 90th Photographic
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Groups | Bombardment |
- 2d Bombardment
- 12th Bombardment
- 17th Bombardment
- 47th Bombardment
- 97th Bombardment
- 98th Bombardment
- 99th Bombardment
- 301st Bombardment
- 310th Bombardment
- 319th Bombardment
- 320th Bombardment
- 321st Bombardment
- 340th Bombardment
- 376th Bombardment
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Fighter |
- 1st Fighter
- 14th Fighter
- 27th Fighter
- 31st Fighter
- 33d Fighter
- 52d Fighter
- 57th Fighter
- 79th Fighter
- 81st Fighter
- 82d Fighter
- 86th Fighter
- 324th Fighter
- 325th Fighter
- 332d Fighter
- 350th Fighter
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Reconnaissance |
- 3d Reconnaissance
- 5th Reconnaissance
- 68th Reconnaissance
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Troop carrier
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- 60th Troop Carrier
- 61st Troop Carrier
- 62d Troop Carrier
- 64th Troop Carrier
- 313th Troop Carrier
- 314th Troop Carrier
- 316th Troop Carrier
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Squadrons |
- 15th Bombardment
- 414th Night Fighter
- 415th Night Fighter
- 416th Night Fighter
- 417th Night Fighter
- 427th Night Fighter
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- United States Army Air Forces
- First
- Second
- Third
- Fourth
- Fifth
- Sixth
- Seventh
- Eighth
- Ninth
- Tenth
- Eleventh
- Twelfth
- Thirteenth
- Fourteenth
- Fifteenth
- Twentieth
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 USAAF Ninth Air Force in World War II |
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Stations | Palestine (Mand) | |
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Egypt | |
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Libya | |
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Tunisia | |
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United Kingdom | |
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Europe | |
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Units | Commands |
- 9th Air Division (was IX Bomber Command)
- IX Air Defense
- IX Fighter
- IX Tactical Air
- IX Troop Carrier
- XIX Tactical Air
- XXIX Tactical Air
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Wings | Bombardment |
- 97th Bombardment
- 98th Bombardment
- 99th Bombardment
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Fighter |
- 8th Fighter
- 9th Fighter
- 70th Fighter
- 71st Fighter
- 84th Fighter
- 100th Fighter
- 303d Fighter
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Troop carrier | |
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Groups | Bombardment |
- 12th Bombardment
- 98th Bombardment
- 322d Bombardment
- 323d Bombardment Group
- 340th Bombardment Group
- 344th Bombardment Group
- 376th Bombardment
- 386th Bombardment
- 387th Bombardment
- 391st Bombardment
- 394th Bombardment
- 397th Bombardment
- 409th Bombardment
- 410th Bombardment
- 416th Bombardment
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Fighter | |
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Troop carrier |
- 61st Troop Carrier
- 64th Troop Carrier
- 313th Troop Carrier
- 314th Troop Carrier
- 315th Troop Carrier
- 316th Troop Carrier
- 349th Troop Carrier
- 434th Troop Carrier
- 435th Troop Carrier
- 436th Troop Carrier
- 437th Troop Carrier
- 438th Troop Carrier
- 439th Troop Carrier
- 440th Troop Carrier
- 441st Troop Carrier
- 442d Troop Carrier
- IX Troop Carrier Pathfinder (Provisional)
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Reconnaissance |
- 10th Reconnaissance
- 67th Reconnaissance
- 69th Reconnaissance
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Squadrons | Liaison |
- 14th Liaison
- 47th Liaison
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Night fighter | |
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- United States Army Air Forces
- First
- Second
- Third
- Fourth
- Fifth
- Sixth
- Seventh
- Eighth
- Ninth
- Tenth
- Eleventh
- Twelfth
- Thirteenth
- Fourteenth
- Fifteenth
- Twentieth
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На других языках
- [en] Ponte Olivo Airfield
[it] Aeroporto di Ponte Olivo
L'Aeroporto di Ponte Olivo era un aeroporto militare usato durante la seconda guerra mondiale nei pressi della città di Gela e successivamente usato da Enrico Mattei e dai dirigenti dell'Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI) come aeroporto privato per i loro frequenti viaggi negli stabilimenti Anic della zona. L'aeroporto prende il nome dalla località Ponte Olivo in cui si trovava, lungo la odierna SS 117 bis.
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