Trapani–Milo Airport

Trapani–Milo Airport is a closed airport, located at Milo, which was the first airport to serve the Sicilian city of Trapani, in Italy. Today is used by the Italian Space Agency.

Trapani–Milo Airport
Trapani–Milo runway relative to the motorway
Summary
Airport typemilitary
Elevation AMSL394 ft / 120 m
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
05/23 1,100 Asphalt

History

The airport was built during the 1930s and became the base of the Italian Regia Aeronautica. After being heavily bombed by Allied forces during the Invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) in July 1943, it stayed open until 1949 when the new Trapani–Chinisia Airfield was opened.

From 1975 the airport was used by the Italian Space Agency as the launch site for stratospheric balloons.[1] It was one of the few in the world able to launch balloons across the Mediterranean (to Spain) and across the Atlantic, which was fundamental for astrophysics and astronomy research. The launch base in July 2001 was named after Italian aerospace engineer Luigi Broglio. More recently, it was used for launching unmanned aircraft. It was closed in 2010.[2]

In 1976 with the construction of the motorway A29 the runway was cut in half and a small road bridge connects the two parts of runway.

See also

References
  1. Italian Space Agency, Trapani–Milo Launch Base
  2. Translated from the corresponding Italian Wiki article


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