Comiso Airport: Difference between revisions

Comiso-Ragusa Airport Aeroporto di Comiso "V. Magliocco"
The new control tower
IATA: CIY ICAO: LICB
Summary
Airport type	Public
Location	Comiso (Ragusa)
Elevation AMSL	620 ft / 190 m
Coordinates	36°59′30″N 14°36′25″E / 36.99167°N 14.60694°E / 36.99167; 14.60694
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 05/23 2,460 8,070 Asphalt
Width: . . . . 45 m . - . 148 f Instrument Landing System on 05

Comiso Airport (IATA: CIY, ICAO: LICB), also known as Vincenzo Magliocco Airport is located in the Sicilian province of Ragusa, 5 km from Comiso and 15 km from Ragusa. It changed from military to civil use during 2005-2008. The airport will open to general aviation and cargo in the near future.

The installation began as an aerodrome that was constructed in southeastern Sicily, at the foot of the Iblei Mountains and near the city of Comiso. The airport was designed in 1934 under the fascist regime but building works did not start until 1935 and were finished in 1939. Magliocco Aerodromo was dedicated in 1936 and named in honor of Major General Vincenzo Magliocco, the first Sicilian to become a general officer in the Italian Air Force. Magliocco had been killed in the Ethiopian war in 1936.

It became one of several key airdromes in southern Sicily during World War II. German forces were stationed there in 1941, as part of Italy's Axis Alliance, and the German Luftwaffe in 1943 conducted air operations against Allied positions in North Africa after its withdrawal from Tunisa.

Aerial bombardments by the Allies rendered the airdrome unserviceable on 26 May and 17 June 1943. Just after the landing on the nearby Sicilian beaches (Operation Husky) Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers took off from Comiso to bomb the landing beaches, only to be met by United States Army troops at the airfield when they landed for rearming and fuel. Ground assault forces of the II Corps, under the command of (then) Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, captured the base on July 11, 1943. Six days later, after quick repairs to the airfield, Allied air forces began operations at Magliocco. The airdrome remained under Allied control until American forces left in 1945.

The airfield and facilities at Magliocco fell into disuse during the postwar years. In 1954 Al Italia, the Italian national airline, began commercial operations there. The faciities were and enlarged, with a runway that was to be 1,740 m (5,710 ft) long, the airport was opened to civil aviation. The airport was also a base for the 41st Storm of Catania (Italian Air Force), until 1973. However, the airport was little used.

When offered to NATO in 1981 for use as a BGM-109G Ground Launched Cruise Missile base, the buildings on the base were almost all bombed out shells and the runway had trees growing out of it. A few of the old buildings were refurbished and used by the USAF or the Italian Air Force, but most were demolished carefully, because of the large amount of unexploded World War II ordnance, a new base was constructed from the ground up.

Construction of both American and Italian facilities progressed rapidly over the next few months, and by late 1983, the base had a permanent population approaching 2,000 and the initial NATO Ground Launched Cruise Missile force was operational. The first permanently assigned U.S. military personnel arrived in April 1983 in the early stages of the construction of the base. There was a small Italian Air Force contingent there at that time, along with a U.S. Navy construction office.

During the summer of 1983, three large anti-nuclear demonstrations, largely funded by the Communist Party, were conducted around the base perimeter, with as many as 5,000 protesters at the events in late July, August and September. After these three demonstrations, which also involved a large number of Italian police, both local and national, the protesters appeared to lose interest and only a few very small incidents took place over the following years.

From 1983 to 1991 Comiso airport was the largest NATO base in southern Europe and housed 112 American cruise missiles. The U.S. Air Force 487th Tactical Missile Wing and Italian Air Force host organization jointly accomplished the NATO GLCM mission at Comiso until the base closed in May 1991, a result of the signing of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Force Treaty signed in 1987.

Today the NATO air base, located on the southeast side of the runway, is totally abandoned and empty. Weeds and unkempt vegetation have been growing for the past 20 years. Most of the buildings are empty, and the housing units in particular have been scavenged clean of any valuable appliances, wiring, and plumbing left behind. Some of the housing units are used as makeshift archives for provincial records. Anyone is able to walk in and tour the area without any worry.

Refurbishment work to reactivate the airport started in 2004 and was completed during the winter of 2008. The new runway is 2,460 m (8,070 ft) long and 60 m (200 ft) wide, (45 m (148 ft) with two hard shoulders, each of 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)) and has three fast exits (B1, B2 and B3); they connect to a taxiway which is 38 m (125 ft) wide. An ILS (Instrument Landing System) was installed and a new control tower 19 m (62 ft) high, was built.

The first civil flight was made ​​on a 30 April 2007, after the necessary tests and the inauguration of the new runway, the start of regular scheduled flights could be commenced by spring 2013, but the unavailability of the State to make available resources for air traffic controllers has blocked the activation indefinitely.

• Catania Fontanarossa Airport Vincenzo Bellini - Sicily's major international airport.
• Palermo Airport Falcone e Borsellino - also known as Punta Raisi Airport, another of Sicily's international airports
• Trapani Birgi Airport Vincenzo Florio - another of Sicily's international airports

• Airport Authority Site Template:It icon Template:En icon
• Accident history for CIY at Aviation Safety Network
• Airport information for LICB at Great Circle Mapper.
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• Video of operations at Comiso airport from Youtube
• Photo tour of Comiso Air Base, 2008