Decimomannu Air Base is an

Italian Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello , mascot = , anniversaries = 28 March ...

(''Aeronautica Militare'') air base located approximately north of

Decimomannu Decimomannu ( sc, Deximumannu or ) is a comune in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It is located about northwest of central Cagliari and had a population of about 8,115 . Geography Decimomannu borders the municipalities of ...

a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

Province of Cagliari Cagliari ( it, provincia di Cagliari; sc, provìntzia de Casteddu) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia, Italy and its capital city was Cagliari. It had an area of , and a total population of 543,310 (2001). There were 71 ' ...

on the island of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It is a military airport located northwest of the city of Cagliari, Sardinia, in a vast area between the towns of Decimomannu, Decimoputzu, San Sperate and Villasor. The airport is named after Colonel pilot Giovanni Farina, Gold Medal for bravery, died in combat in the skies of Sardinia 14 June 1942. The airfield is a front-line

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

training facility primarily used since 1979 for Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) of various NATO air force fighter aircraft. Decimonannu was also the Home Base for the Taktisches Ausbildungskommando der Luftwaffe Italien and the base was used for training flights.

History

Decimomannu became in effect a military airport on 3 June 1940 with the transfer of the Italian 32º Wing from Cagliari Elmas. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the airport served both

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

and Allied forces. Between 1941 and 1943 the airport hosted the 36º Wing equipped with Savoia-Marchetti SM79 and Savoia-Marchetti SM.84 bombers. On 27 September 1941 the airport forces were involved in a bloody battle with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

in the central Mediterranean. On 17 February 1943, the airport was bombed by the Anglo-American allies. In 1943 following the

Armistice of Cassibile The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brig ...

, the airport came under the control of the United States Army who used it as a base for Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft of the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF).

Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - F-16 Takes Off as Part of IAF Delegation to Sardinia

Decimomannu airfield was used by the USAAF

Twelfth Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to U ...

320th Bombardment Group 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

, which flew

B-26 Marauder The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in t ...

medium bombers from the field between 1 November 1943 and 21 September 1944. The American author Joseph Heller, while writing his novel ''

Catch-22 ''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non-chr ...

'', was inspired by some events that happened in the Decimomannu airbase in 1944. In April 1957 a "Air Weapons Training Installation" (AWTI) unit was established by the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

(RCAF). In December 1959 an agreement was signed between Italy, Canada and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, which regulated the use of the air base and firing ranges associated with it. Over the years the base saw a growing increase in flights. Decimomannu during 1970 and 2000 was consecrated as the airport with the highest number of takeoffs and landings in Europe, with an average of about 60000 movements per year, equal to about 450 daily movements. Currently, the main user of the airport is the

Italian Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello , mascot = , anniversaries = 28 March ...

. The

German Air Force The German Air Force (german: Luftwaffe, lit=air weapon or air arm, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ''Bundeswehr'') was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War a ...

(Luftwaffe) left the airport in December 2016 because of the restrictions about flying and rising costs.

Facilities

The airport resides at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has two

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

paved

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

s: 17L/35R measuring and 17R/35L measuring .

References

External links

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{{authority control Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Italy Italian airbases Italian Air Force Airports established in 1943 Training establishments of the German Air Force

History

Facilities

See also

References

External links