Gaudo Airfield |
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Part of Twelfth Air Force | |
Coordinates | 40°26′38.69″N 015°00′04.11″E / 40.4440806°N 15.0011417°E |
Type | Military airfield |
Site information | |
Controlled by | United States Army Air Forces |
Site history | |
Built | 1943 |
In use | 1943-1944 |
Gaudo Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield in Southern Italy, approximately 3 km north of Paestum, where the neolithic necropolis belonging to the Gaudo Culture was discovered, about 70 km southeast of Naples. It was a temporary airfield built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Its last known use was by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force in 1944 during the Italian Campaign.
A significant number of aircraft were damaged at the airfield in March 1944 when Mount Vesuvius erupted. The last use was in June 1944 by C-47s, and afterward the airfield was dismantled and closed. Today the site of the airfield is indistinguishable from the many agricultural fields in the area.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.