Gela-Farello

37°03'16"N 014°18'27"E

Runway: 00/00 - 0000meters/0000feet - surface

Gela-Farello air field (Gela-East landing ground), was an airfield in the south of Sicily, Italy.
The airfield was built by Germans during World War II as an alternate landing site with no facillities.
It was captured by Allied forces on the night of 11 and 12 July 1943 and renamed Gela-East.
The capture did not come easy though, many Allied transports were shot down due to unlucky timing.
The field was quickly cleared of barbed wire to allow emergency use.
In fact, the 809 Engineer Aviation Battalion -aided b several hundred POWs- worked so fast, that after only three hours a B-17 was able to use it for an emergency landing.
On 4 June 1943 27th Bombardment Group (Light) and it's 16th, 17th and 91st Bombardment Squadrons (Light) transfer with A-36 (ground attack P-51s) Apache's from Korba, Tunisia to Gela East.
The 27th BG (Light) would be redesignated the 27th Fighter-Bomber Group on 23 Aug 1943; the 16, 17th and 91st were redesignated the 522d, 523d and 524th Fighter-Bomber Squadrons respectively.


No photos of Gela-East have been located thusfar.


Today nothing remains of the former airfield.





The location of Gela-East in 2010 (Google Earth