| Comiso-Ragusa Airport Aeroporto di Comiso "V. Magliocco" |
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|---|---|---|---|
| The new control tower | |||
| IATA: CIY – ICAO: LICB | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Location | Comiso (Ragusa) | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 620 ft / 190 m | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 05/23 | 2,460 | 8,070 | Asphalt |
| Width: . . . . 45 m . - . 148 f Instrument Landing System on 05 |
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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.
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The airport was designed in 1934 under the fascist regime but building works did not start until 1935 and were finished in 1939. It was named after General Vincenzo Magliocco from Palermo who had been killed in the Ethiopian war in 1936.
During World War II it was taken over by the German Luftwaffe in 1943 after its withdrawal from Tunisa. It was severely damaged by the Allied forces on 26 May and 17 June 1943, just before the landing on the nearby Sicilian beaches (Operation Husky).
During General George Patton’s landing in Sicily, 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.
Rebuilt and enlarged after the war, 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. The buildings are empty, but not vandalized, they are more or less a time capsule, empty and unused. Several hundred military family housing units, built on the north side of the runway, also stand vacant.
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 airport authorities are negotiating with airlines and charter companies to start commercial activities.