ArmyAirForces.com
Home Databases AAF Forum Photo Galleries Research Help The Store Contact  
Prev Thread Prev Thread   Next Thread Next Thread
 I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth
Author Message
jj463rd

  • Total Posts : 165
  • Reward points : 59
  • Joined: 04/21/2006
  • Status: offline
I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/27/2008 05:32:25 PM
Can anyone pinpoint them? All I have is a general map of the 5th Bomb Wing Bases in the 772nd Squadron (of the 463rd BG) book.Someone asked me this question in an Email and even I would like to know their exact locations (placement).
I can fudge it from the map and come close but the exact location from satellite imagery stumps me.
I've heard from my mom that the Celone airbase (of the 463rd BG) is now a Potato field.
jpeters140

  • Total Posts : 5289
  • Reward points : 114
  • Joined: 01/02/2002
  • Location: Columbus, Indiana
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/27/2008 09:24:40 PM
 
Jonathon....I can give you two...Foggia #2 was Tortorella...(home of the 99th BG on the East side of the airfield, and the RAF 205 Group HQ, on the West side).....8 1/2 miles East of Foggia on the road to the little fishing village of Manfredonia on the Adriatic Coast....the second was Amendola, another 2 miles East of Tortorella, where the 2nd BG and 97th BG were located.

Foggia Main was the 5th Wing HQ and I think it was west of the town of Foggia, also there was a hospital there as well.  

You can find Amendola on Google Earth...it has been expanded and now is a major air base.

As to the exact location of the 301st, 463rd and 483rd, I do not know...I was sent to Lucera (301st), awating transportation to Gioia del Colle, for the return to the US.

I also had an occasion to visit my cousin at Sterperone, the home of the 483rd, but I hitched a ride on a truck to that base...but, as to the exact location, I cannot say.

Jim :-)
James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)
Terry T.

  • Total Posts : 1356
  • Reward points : 231
  • Joined: 08/07/2006
  • Location: California
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/27/2008 11:49:36 PM
here is a map..test #20006867667
 
jj463rd

  • Total Posts : 165
  • Reward points : 59
  • Joined: 04/21/2006
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/28/2008 12:08:32 AM
Thanks guys. I had the impression that Celone #1 was on the road leading from Foggia to San Severo from the 772nd squadron book but from Terry T's map it looks as though it's going from Foggia to Lucera.
Terry T.

  • Total Posts : 1356
  • Reward points : 231
  • Joined: 08/07/2006
  • Location: California
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/28/2008 12:21:38 AM
If you search the net long enough you will find things..Celone #1 was 7mi. NW of the city of Foggia, if the runway was cement, it might still be some local airport..I also use MSN Virtual Earth..as well as Goggle Earth..
 
Terry T.
jj463rd

  • Total Posts : 165
  • Reward points : 59
  • Joined: 04/21/2006
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/28/2008 12:50:11 AM
I've heard that it was 7 miles NW of Foggia too.However I've read that it was about 2.5 to 3.5 miles from the outskirts of Foggia from another book.
Perhaps what is meant by that is that it was 7 miles NW from the center of the town of Foggia.It used to be a captured German Ju-88 Base from what I've heard.I've seen pictures of my dad sitting on a wrecked JU-88.I think that the USAAF used Marsden matting for the airstrip.
I don't believe that it exists anymore except as some Farmer's field.
jpeters140

  • Total Posts : 5289
  • Reward points : 114
  • Joined: 01/02/2002
  • Location: Columbus, Indiana
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/28/2008 01:30:50 AM
Terry... A small correction....Tortorella was about a mile south of the road to Manfredonia, and directly east of Foggia, along the railroad between Foggia and Manfredonia, and Amendola was just north of the Manfredonia road....there was about 2 miles seperating the two....I have watched either the 2nd, or 97th,B-17s come over our tent area at no more than 100 feet just after takeoff, while forming up their formations. They were so low, that I could distinguish the pilot's faces.
Manfedonia was roughly 12 miles from Foggia, which put Tortorella about 8 1/2 miles East, and Amendola about 10 miles east, with Manfredonia another two miles on the coast.
 
The Tuskogee airmen were just north of Manfredonia, on the little projection of land, where the gunnery range was also on that peninsula. Thier runway ran east-west...and I have seen their runway while we were climbing on our way up the Adriatic on a mission.
 
Jim :-)
James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)
Terry T.

  • Total Posts : 1356
  • Reward points : 231
  • Joined: 08/07/2006
  • Location: California
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/28/2008 02:59:19 PM
jj463rd..
 
I was looking around Wikipeda and came across this..perhaps you can find what you want there with a little searching..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Army+Air+Fields+of+Foggia+Italy
 
 
On January 23, the ground echelon traveled by open truck in wet, freezing weather to the new base (code-named "Newbox") on the Tavoliere near the Adriatic Sea, eighteen miles southeast of Foggia. The airbase was constructed on
an estate called Incarnata Farm (41°16′N, 15°44′E), less than a mile north of the village of Stornarella and approximately two miles southwest of the larger town of Stornara; it received the name of the larger city as its location. Stornara airbase was centered in a cluster of airfields of its parent and newly-activated 304th Bomb Wing and two other heavy bomber wings of the Fifteenth Air Force surrounding the city of Cerignola.
 
  Staff officers immediately began requisitioning farmhouses for administrative buildings and setting up tent encampments in nearby olive groves for the living quarters. With some improvised improvements, the 456th lived in tents throughout its fifteen months at Stornara (for several months, the ground crews lived in infantry shelter halves until a sufficient number of squad-sized tents became available). Stonara's single runway was 4,800 feet in length and oriented north-to-south, with taxiways on either side and revetments for 62 aircraft placed along them. The runways and taxiways were covered with steel matting called pierced steel planking, or PSP.
 
  On January 26 the 456th group headquarters reached Stornara and activated the base. The group's bombers began arriving from Tunisia on February 1. On a training familiarization flight on February 6 another B-24 was lost, crashing into a mountain while flying in clouds, killing all aboard including three aircraft commanders
 
 
Terry T.
jj463rd

  • Total Posts : 165
  • Reward points : 59
  • Joined: 04/21/2006
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/28/2008 08:43:59 PM
Here is what I have read in the Crew Umbriago book by Dan Carroll

"We drove on for 7 miles north of town:it was quite flat,however in the distance,there were mountains.
Then we turned off on a natural road of dirt and rock.The truck made abrupt little bounces:it was dusk when we
pulled into one of the area of tents and crude stone buildings.We climbed down and glanced around,for this was it!"


jj463rd

  • Total Posts : 165
  • Reward points : 59
  • Joined: 04/21/2006
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/28/2008 08:52:48 PM
Here is about 7 miles North of Foggia

[image]http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/6326/7milesnorthoffoggiari7.jpg [/image]
jj463rd

  • Total Posts : 165
  • Reward points : 59
  • Joined: 04/21/2006
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/28/2008 08:54:47 PM
Here is about 7 miles North of Foggia (on the road to San Savero)

http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7milesnorthoffoggiari7.jpg

My guess is that Celone #1 is located by Masserio Villano but it's just a guess and I could be quite wrong.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8858/celonelocationquestiondv4.jpg

http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?image=celonelocationquestion2bw6.jpg
jhor9

  • Total Posts : 1657
  • Reward points : 202
  • Joined: 05/03/2002
  • Location: Pompano Beach FL
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/29/2008 03:11:13 PM
I was under the impression that Wing HQ was based in Bari. I'm pretty sure that some kind of HQ was located there.With all the above comments I guess that I'm wrong.
Jules Horowitz, B-17 pilot, 99th BG, 50 missions/sorties
My tour was from 7/19/43-2/13/44
jpeters140

  • Total Posts : 5289
  • Reward points : 114
  • Joined: 01/02/2002
  • Location: Columbus, Indiana
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 06/29/2008 03:28:25 PM
Jules...5th Wing HQ was at Foggia Main....15th AF HQ was at Bari.  Each B-24 Wing HQ was at one of the B-24 Bases...there were four B-24 Wings. 
 
The 47th Wing B24s was  composed of 98th BG,376th BG,449th BG.
The 49th Wing B-24s was composed of 451st BG,461st BG,and the 484th BG
The 55th wing  B-24s was composed of 460th BG,464th BG,465th BG, and the 485th BG
The 304th Wing B-24s was composed of the 454th BG,455th BG,456th BG and the 459th BG
 
The 306th Fighter Wing   (Fighter Escorts) was composed of the 1st Fighter P-38, 14th FG P-38, 31st FG P-51, 52nd FG P-51, the 82nd FG P-38, 325th FG P-51, and the Famed Tuskogee Airmen the 332nd FG  P51.
 
Jim :-)
 
 
James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)
soalebm

  • Total Posts : 23
  • Reward points : 0
  • Joined: 01/29/2008
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 07/18/2008 10:42:28 AM
Does anyone know which bases were which numbers??? For example Foggia Main was sometimes labeled Foggia #1 and Tortorella was Foggia #2 but from there I don't know. I would like to know Celone, Lucera, Amendola, and Sterparone for sure. Most of the nat'l Archives documents have the # system for bases and I guess thats how Army intelligence referred to them during the war.
thanks,
Brandon 
buckeyeuk

  • Total Posts : 865
  • Reward points : 183
  • Joined: 02/26/2005
  • Location: Bedford England
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 07/18/2008 01:55:01 PM
Brandon      the FOGGIA bases as follows
Foggia Main
Foggia No. 1  San Nicola/Capelli/Celone
Foggia No. 2  Tortorella
Foggia No. 3  Schifara/Salsola
Foggia No. 4  Fandetta
Foggia No. 5  Morin
Foggia No. 6  Radogno
Foggia No. 7  Zanotti/Triolo
Foggia No. 8  Posta Augello
Foggia No. 9  Amendola/Triolo LG
Foggia No. 10  San Andrea
Foggia No. 11  Nocelli
Foggia No. 12  Lucera

Sterparone was apparently not regarded as part of the Foggia Complex. All these bases also used by various British/Dominion squadrons.                 Regards   Nick

soalebm

  • Total Posts : 23
  • Reward points : 0
  • Joined: 01/29/2008
  • Status: offline
RE: I am looking for the exact locations of 5th Bomb Wing airbases on Google Earth - 07/18/2008 02:50:23 PM
Great thanks you've been more than helpful.
Brandon

Jump to: