Rosignano Airfield is an abandoned

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

military airfield in

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 ...

, located near the

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ('' province''). The can ...

Rosignano Marittimo Rosignano Marittimo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Livorno in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southwest of Florence and about southeast of Livorno. Geography Rosignano Marittimo borders the following municipalities ...

in the

Province of Livorno The province of Livorno or, traditionally, province of Leghorn ( it, provincia di Livorno) is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. It includes several islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, including Elba and Capraia. Its capital is the city o ...

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

. The area was captured by the Fifth Army in the early summer of 1944, and the airfield was used by the

United States Army Air Force 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 ...

Twelfth Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to ...

in 1945 during the Italian campaign. Known units assigned were: * 416th Night Fighter Squadron,

P-61 Black Widow The Northrop P-61 Black Widow is a twin-engine United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft of World War II. It was the first operational U.S. warplane designed as a night fighter, and the first aircraft designed specifically as a night figh ...

, 1 September-1 October 1944 : Operations included defensive patrols of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Leghorn ( Livorno),

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ...

and

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

. Also provided air defense of Fifth Army operations and intruder sweeps of the

Po Valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic e ...

in Northern Italy. *

62d Troop Carrier Group 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, 30 September 1944-8 January 1945 : 4th, 7th, 8th, 51st, 517th TC Squadrons,

C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained ...

47th Bombardment Group 47th may refer to: Chicago Transit Authority stations * 47th station (CTA Green Line), on the Green Line * 47th station (CTA Red Line) 47th is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Red Line. The station is loca ...

, October–11 December 1944 : 84th, 85th, 86th, 97th, Bomb Squadrons,

A-26 Invader The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during several major C ...

* 64th Troop Carrier Group, 10 January-23 May 1945 : 16th, 17th, 18th, 35th TC Squadrons,

2641st Special Group The 2641st Special Group (Provisional) was a United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with Fifteenth Air Force, based at Rosignano Airfield, Italy. It was inactivated on 20 May 1945. Overview Thus the primary mission of the S ...

, 24 March-20 May 1945 : 859th Bomb Squadron,

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models d ...

: Engaged in special operations assigned to

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 ...

. The 457th Air Service Squadron provided base support functions for the station, and the 904th Base Security Battalion provided security for the airfield and ground station. The USAAF ended its operations at Rosignano about 30 September 1945 when the 117th Army Airways Communications Squadron closed its facility on the station. Today there is little or no evidence of the airfield, as the land has been returned to agricultural use.

References

* Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. . *
USAFHRA Records Search, Rosignano

External links

{{USAAF 12th Air Force World War II Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Italy Aviation in Italy Italy in World War II Airports established in 1944