Lucera Airfield is an abandoned
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 ...
military airfield in
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 was located 7.9 kilometers east of
Lucera
Lucera ( Lucerino: ) is an Italian city of 34,243 inhabitants in the province of Foggia in the region of Apulia, and the seat of the Diocese of Lucera-Troia.
Located upon a flat knoll in the Tavoliere Plains, near the foot of Daunian Mountain ...
, in the
Province of Foggia
The Province of Foggia ( it, Provincia di Foggia ; Foggiano: ) is a province in the Apulia (Puglia) region of southern Italy.
This province is also known as Daunia, after the Daunians, an Iapygian pre-Roman tribe living in Tavoliere plain, and ...
. The airfield was abandoned and dismantled after the end of the war in 1945.
History
Lucera Airfield a temporary wartime facility, built by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Construction was initiated shortly after Allied forces seized control of the Tavoliere plain around Foggia, Apulia, Italy.
The major tenant of the airfield was the
301st Bombardment Group, which arrived from either Torretta, San Giovanni, Giulia or Stornara Airfield in the Cerignola area of Italy on 1 February 1944. It was equipped with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers.
[ Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. .]
The 301st Bomb Group consisted of four squadrons:
*
32d Bombardment Squadron
*
352d Bombardment Squadron
*
353d Bombardment Squadron
The 353d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It last was assigned to the 301st Bombardment Wing, stationed at Lockbourne Air Force Base, Ohio. It was inactivated on 8 June 1964.
During World War II, the 353d Bombard ...
*
419th Bombardment Squadron 419th may refer to:
*419th Fighter Wing, United States Air Force Reserve unit active with Tenth Air Force, based at Hill Air Force Base, Utah
*419th Flight Test Squadron (419 FLTS), part of the 412th Test Wing based at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif ...
The airfield had parallel, 6,000' x 100' asphalt runways laid over Pierced Steel Planking, oriented 13/31. There were two perimeter tracks, one on each side of the runways.
There may have been some temporary hangars and buildings; however, it appears that personnel were quartered primarily in tents, and most aircraft maintenance took place in the open on hardstands. It also had a steel control tower.
With the end of the war in 1945, the 301st returned to the United States at the end of July, heading to
Sioux Falls Army Air Field
Sioux Falls Regional Airport , also known as Joe Foss Field, is a public and military use airport three miles northwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. It is named in honor of aviator and Sioux Falls native Joe Foss, who later served a ...
, South Dakota to become part of the new
Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
.
They were replaced by the
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 ...
100th and
301st Fighter Squadrons, part of the
Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army ...
332d Fighter Group moved to Lucera in July from their wartime base at
Ramitelli Airfield
The Foggia Airfield Complex was a series of World War II military airfields located within a radius of Foggia, in the Province of Foggia, Italy. The airfields were used by the United States Army Air Force Fifteenth Air Force as part of the str ...
, while awaiting demobilization orders. The Tuskegee Airmen remained at Lucera until the end of September when they departed for the United States and subsequent demobilization.
Sometime after that departure, the engineers moved in and dismantled the facility. Today Lucera Airfield has been returned to agriculture; however, extensive scarring of the landscape remains, showing various dispersal pads and taxiways and other features.
See also
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References
External links
{{USAAF 15th Air Force World War II
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Italy
Airfields of the Fifteenth Air Force during World War II
Airports established in 1943