Serragia Airfield is an abandoned military airfield in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, located approximately 26 km west-southwest of Porto-Vecchio on

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

. Its last known use was 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 U ...

in 1944. After the forced withdrawal of German forces from Corsica in September 1943, elements of the Twelfth Air Force 57th Bombardment Wing were moved to the island. Serragia Airdrome was taken over by the USAAF in July 1944 and used as a forward-base of operations for B-25 Mitchell bomber attacks against northern Italy and Southern France, in support of

Operation Dragoon Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil), known as Débarquement de Provence in French ("Provence Landing"), was the code name for the landing operation of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Provence (Southern France) on 15Augu ...

, the invasion of Southern France. Known units assigned to the airfield were: * 319th Bombardment Group, 21 September 1944 – 1 January 1945,

B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served ...

* 27th Fighter Group, July–August 1944,

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry ...

P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter, and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

* 79th Fighter Group, June, 1944 to August, 1944,

P-47 The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter, and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

The units remained on Corsica until early 1945 when enemy targets became out of range of the Mitchells. The airfield was closed by the Americans on 25 January and dismantled after the war, and today there are little or no remains of it other than the remnants of its main runway and disturbed areas where the airfield once was.

References

* Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. .
USAAF 12th Air Force in Corsica
(In French)

External links

{{authority control Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in France Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in France