Pyriatyn Airport was an airfield located approximately south of

Pyriatyn Pyriatyn (, ) is a city in Poltava Oblast, Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Pyriatyn Raion. Population: History At the end of 1941 or beginning 1942, a ghetto guarded by policemen was established and numbered over 1,500 Jews by late ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. Satellite imagery appears to show that it has been abandoned.

History

In May 1944, the recently improved field was provided to 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 ...

for use by American aircraft operating in support of the shuttle bombing program. Unlike the other two such bases (

Myrhorod Myrhorod ( uk, Ми́ргород, ) is a city in the Poltava Oblast (province) of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Myrhorod Raion (district), the city itself is administratively incorporated as a city of oblast s ...

and

Poltava Poltava (, ; uk, Полтава ) is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the capital city of the Poltava Oblast (province) and of the surrounding Poltava Raion (district) of the oblast. Poltava is administratively ...

), Piryatin was designated for use by fighter aircraft due to the limitations of the field. It was used by the Eighth and

Fifteenth Air Force The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Force ...

s for shuttle bombing missions (

Operation Frantic Operation Frantic was a series of seven shuttle bombing List of air operations during the Battle of Europe, operations during World War II conducted by American aircraft based in Great Britain and southern Italy which then landed at three Soviet ...

) from June 1944 through September 1944. Piryatin was designated as USAAF Station 560 for security purposes and was thus referred to in all messages and written correspondence. Piriatyn was one of three Ukraine installations operated by Headquarters, Eastern Command,

United States Strategic Air Forces The United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF) was a formation of the United States Army Air Forces. It became the overall command and control authority of the United States Army Air Forces in Europe during World War II. USSTAF had started as ...

Aircraft, predominantly P-51s and P-38s, would fly into the field from either

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

or Southern

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 ...

after attacking enemy targets in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. The aircraft would refuel and rearm at the airport, then attack enemy targets on return missions to Southern Italy. On the night of 23 June 1944, Piryatin was the target of a German air attack, but unlike the case at the other two bases, the German bombers failed to locate the field and dropped their bombs in the vicinity. Major operations ended in September 1944, and the Americans consolidated their presence at Poltava for the remainder of the war.

References

* Anderson, Barry, (1985), United States Air Forces Stations, Air Force Historical Research Center, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. {{authority control Soviet Air Force bases Airports in Ukraine World War II sites in Ukraine World War II airfields in the Soviet Union