Pyriatyn Airport was an airfield located approximately south of

Pyriatyn Pyriatyn (, ) is a city in Poltava Oblast, Ukraine. It served as the administrative center of Pyriatyn Raion until its abolishment in 2020. Population: History At the end of 1941 or beginning 1942, a ghetto guarded by policemen was establishe ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. 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 (, ) is a city in Poltava Oblast, central Ukraine. It serves as the Capital city, administrative center of Myrhorod Raion. Myrhorod also hosts the administration of Myrhorod urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. It is locate ...

and

Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...

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

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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 Forc ...

s for shuttle bombing missions (

Operation Frantic Operation Frantic was a series of seven shuttle bombing operations during World War II conducted by American aircraft based in Great Britain and southern Italy, which landed at three Soviet airfields in the Ukrainian SSR. From there, the planes ...

) 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 in Europe (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 the European theater of World War II. U ...

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

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or Southern

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after attacking enemy targets in

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. 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 military air bases in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Airports in Ukraine World War II sites in Ukraine World War II airfields in the Soviet Union