Bari Airport

Originally built in the 1930s by the Regia Aeronautica, Bari Airport began as a military airfield. In September 1943, during the Italian Campaign of WWII, it was seized by the British Eighth Army and converted into an Allied base.

In January 1944, four SOE agents were flown in from Libya to participate in the daring kidnapping of German general Kreipe.

Until May 1945, it served the RAF, U.S. Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces, the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, and the Balkan Air Force—supporting operations and command functions.

After the war, it was handed over to the newly formed Italian Air Force. In the 1960s, the airport opened to civilian flights, marking its transition from military hub to public gateway.

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Source

• Text: TracesofWar
• Photos: RAF
• LEIGH FERMOR, P., Abducting a General, John Murray Publishers Ltd, 2014.