Messina Airfield

Messina Airfield
Part of Twelfth Air Force
Site information
Type	Military airfield
Controlled by	United States Army Air Forces
Location
Coordinates	38°12′00.00″N015°33′00.00″E / 38.2000000°N 15.5500000°E / 38.2000000; 15.5500000
Site history
Built	1943 (1943)
In use	1943
Battles/wars	World War II

Messina Airfield

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Location of Messina Airfield, Italy

Messina Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield in Italy, which was located just to the west of Messina in Sicily. It was a temporary field built by the Army Corps of Engineers used as part of the Allied invasion of Italy.

The airfield was primarily used by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force 57th Fighter Group during 15–16 September 1943, flying combat operations with P-40 Warhawks.

When the 57th moved out to Reggio on the Itralian mainland the airfield was closed and dismantled. Today, there are no traces of the airfield remaining on the landscape visible from aerial photography, as the area has been developed as part of the urban area over the past 60 years.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN   0-89201-092-4.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN   0-405-12194-6. LCCN   70605402. OCLC   72556. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 20, 2016.