Trapani–Milo Airport is a closed airport located at

Milo Milo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Milo (magazine), ''Milo'' (magazine), a strength sports magazine * ''Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze'', a 2011 children's novel by Alan Silberberg * Milo (video game), ''Milo'' (video game) * Milo ( ...

, which was the first airport to serve the Sicilian city of

Trapani Trapani ( ; ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') with 54,887 inhabitants, on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an important fishing port and the mai ...

, in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Today it is used by the

Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency (; ASI) is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international entities who are active in aerospac ...

History

The airport was built during the 1930s and became the base of the Italian

Regia Aeronautica The Royal Italian Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') (RAI) was the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Regio Esercito, Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was ...

. After being heavily bombed by Allied forces during the Invasion of Sicily (

Operation Husky Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

) in July 1943, it stayed open until 1949 when the new Trapani–Chinisia Airfield was opened. From 1975 the airport was used by the

as the launch site for stratospheric balloons. It was one of the few in the world able to launch balloons across the Mediterranean (to Spain) and across the Atlantic, which was fundamental for astrophysics and astronomy research. The launch base in July 2001 was named after Italian aerospace engineer

Luigi Broglio Luigi Broglio (11 November 1911 – 14 January 2001), was an Italian aerospace engineer, airforce lieutenant colonel and dean of the school of aeronautical engineering at the University of Rome La Sapienza. Known as "the Italian von Braun", he i ...

. More recently, it was used for launching unmanned aircraft. It was closed in 2010.Translated from the corresponding Italian Wiki article In 1976 with the construction of the motorway A29 the runway was cut in half and a small road bridge connects the two parts of the runway.

References

Airports in Sicily {{Italy-airport-stub

History

See also

References