Niscemi is a little town and comune in the province of Caltanissetta, Sicily, Italy. It has a population of 27,558. [3] It is located not far from Gela and Caltagirone and 90 km from Catania.
The name Niscemi is derived from the Arabic word نَشَم neshem or its singular form نَشَمَة neshemeh, this being the name of a particular type of tree.
![]() | This section is written like a travel guide .(January 2022) |
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Source: ISTAT |
During World War II, Niscemi was the location of Ponte Olivo Airfield, a military airfield used by the United States Twelfth Air Force during the Italian campaign. After the war the area was redeveloped and no evidence of the wartime airfield remains.
Today, there is a military radio station for naval communication, U.S. Naval Radio Transmitter Facility (NRTF) Niscemi. Its tallest antenna is a guyed mast, 252 metres (827 ft) high, situated at 37°7'32"N 14°26'11"E.
The United States Navy installation is the focus of ongoing protest by locally based activist groups, who oppose it and demand its removal on grounds of health (danger from electromagnetic radiation), environmental damage and opposition to the use of armed drones in the Middle East, allegedly guided from this base. [4] Allegations of armed drones being operated from this base have never been verified however, as the newly installed MUOS (Mobile User Objective System) [5] was intended as an upgrade to legacy communication equipment, and is not intended to communicate with unmanned flying drones. Niscemi inhabitants say the Berlusconi government did not consult them before granting the US the use of the location.
Dobbins Air Reserve Base or Dobbins ARB is a United States Air Force reserve air base located in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Atlanta. Originally known as Dobbins Air Force Base, it was named in honor of Captain Charles M. Dobbins, a World War II C-47 pilot who died near Sicily.
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, nicknamed Rosy Roads, is a former United States Navy base in the town of Ceiba, Puerto Rico. The site operates today as José Aponte de la Torre Airport, a public use airport.
Naval Station Rota, also known as NAVSTA Rota, is a Spanish-U.S. naval base commanded by a Spanish rear admiral. Located in Rota in the Province of Cádiz, NAVSTA Rota is the largest American military community in Spain, housing U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps personnel. There are also small U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force contingents on the base.
Naval Air Station Keflavik (NASKEF) is a United States Navy air station at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland, located on the Reykjanes peninsula on the south-west portion of the island. NASKEF was closed on 8 September 2006, and its facilities were taken over by the Icelandic Defence Agency as their primary base until 1 January 2011, when the Agency was abolished and the base handed over to the Icelandic Coast Guard, which operated the base until 2017. US forces returned to Keflavik in 2016, renovating parts of the base to accommodate P-8As on short duration/expeditionary detachments.
Yontan Airfield is a former military airfield located near Yomitan Village on the west coast of Okinawa. It was closed in July 1996 and turned over to the Japanese government in December 2006. Today it is home to the Yomitan Village Office and community complex, including baseball fields, running tracks, and community facilities.
Ie Shima Auxiliary Airfield is a training facility, managed by the United States Marine Corps and a former World War II airfield complex on Ie Shima, an island located off the northwest coast of Okinawa Island in the East China Sea. The airfield as such was inactivated after 1946 but part of the former airfield is still used as a training facility for parachute drops and vertical take off and landing aircraft such as the F-35. The facility is referenced as FAC6005 by Okinawa Prefecture.
Comiso Airport "Pio La Torre", also known as Vincenzo Magliocco Airport, is an airport located in the town of Comiso in the Province of Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. The airport serves Comiso (5 km [3.1 mi]), Ragusa (15 km [9.3 mi]), Vittoria and Gela. It changed from military to civil use during 2005–2008. The airport was opened to commercial and general aviation 30 May 2013.
Waller Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force World War II air base located in northeastern Trinidad. It is located about 7 km southeast of Downtown Arima south of the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and roughly 32 km from the capital city Port of Spain.
Naval Air Station Port Lyautey is a former United States Navy Naval Air Station in Morocco, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north-northwest of Kenitra and about 120 kilometres (75 mi) northeast of Casablanca. The Naval Air Station was turned over to the Royal Moroccan Air Force and the last of US military personnel departed the base in 1977. The airport was later reopened as Kenitra Airport after it was closed.
Thornbrough Air Force Base is a former facility of the United States Air Force in Cold Bay, Alaska. Following its closure, it was redeveloped into Cold Bay Airport.
Agrigento Airfield was a military airfield in Sicily, just to the northwest of Agrigento; approximately 5 km northeast of Porto Empedocle.
Marcianise Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield in southeast Italy, which is located approximately 10 km north-northwest of Marcianise in the province of Caserta, Campania; about 32 km north-northwest of Naples. Built in 1943 by United States Army Engineers, the airfield was a large facility capable of handling heavy bombers built for Fifteenth Air Force, which stationed B-17s at the field after the war, prior to their return to the United States. However its primary use was by Air Technical Service Command and by Twelfth Air Force tactical fighter bomber units during the Italian Campaign. The field was used by the senior command of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations based at the Royal Palace of Caserta through 1947.
Tortorella Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield in Italy. It was located 9.4 kilometers east-northeast of Foggia, in the Province of Foggia. The airfield was abandoned and dismantled after the end of the war in 1945.
Decimomannu Air Base is an Italian Air Force air base located approximately 5 km (2.7 NM) north of Decimomannu a comune in the Province of Cagliari on the island of Sardinia in Italy.
Fort Allen, officially Fort Allen Training Center, is a Puerto Rico National Guard military installation located on a 373-hectare (921-acre) facility in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico.
Amendola Air Base is a military airfield of the Italian Air Force. It is the home of 32nd Wing.
Naval Radio Transmitter Facility Niscemi is a transmission facility of the United States Navy at Niscemi, Sicily, maintained by the N92 Division of Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Sicily. The facility houses low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) transmitter and antenna systems, and certification of the new U.S. Navy Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) ground terminals is in progress as of early 2015.
Radio Barrigada, formally Communications Site Barrigada and previously Communications Annex Barrigada, refers to two adjacent U.S. military transmitter facilities located in the villages of Barrigada and Mangilao on the western Pacific territory of Guam. The larger facility is Naval Computer and Telecommunications Site (NCTS) Barrigada, operated by Naval Base Guam, located entirely within Barrigada.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency