Castelluccio Airfield

Military Decommissioning. The primary reason for closure was the end of military necessity following the victory of Allied forces in Europe in World War II. As a temporary wartime airfield, it was not intended for permanent use. After the departure of the assigned US Army Air Forces units, the base was dismantled and the land was returned to its original state for agricultural use.

The site has been fully returned to agricultural use, primarily consisting of cultivated fields. There are no remaining buildings, hangars, or paved surfaces from the original airfield. However, the faint, ghostly outline of the main runway and some of the perimeter taxiways is still clearly visible from satellite imagery due to soil compaction and differences in vegetation, a common feature of former WWII airfields in the region. The location is now private farmland.

Castelluccio Airfield was a significant heavy bomber airfield and part of the Foggia Airfield Complex, a network of bases in southern Italy crucial to the Allied strategic bombing campaign during World War II. It was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in late 1943/early 1944. Its primary operational unit was the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force's 461st Bombardment Group (Heavy), which flew B-24 Liberator bombers from the airfield between February 1944 and April 1945. From Castelluccio, the 461st BG conducted long-range strategic bombing missions against critical enemy targets, including oil refineries, aircraft factories, marshalling yards, and communication lines in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, and the Balkans, playing a key role in crippling the Axis war machine.

There are no known or credible plans to reopen Castelluccio Airfield. The land is privately owned and is productive agricultural terrain. The cost of acquiring the land and rebuilding an airport from scratch would be prohibitive, and there is no economic or strategic demand for a new airport in this specific location, especially with other airports in the region. Reopening is considered highly improbable.