In this photo-set, Italian historian Giuseppe Marini shows us the abandoned site of Cutella airstrip, the field from which 3 Squadron (of all its WW2 Landing Grounds) operated for the longest period.
(Amazingly, "Cutella" is not an Italian place-name, it's a Queensland aboriginal word meaning "Eagle" and was adopted by 239 Wing when this metal-plate strip was set up in the sand-dunes beside the Adriatic.)
Painting by Dennis Adams. 3
Squadron Kittyhawk at Cutella, March 1944. Note the steam
train carrying Army tanks, visible in the distance
[AWM
ART22244]
This is the national road SS 16 on the lowland.
This road represents almost the exact center of the old
airfield.
To the left it is possible to see the mountains of the Maiella. In
that direction there was the German "Gustav" Line.
The airplanes from Cutella often
went there for their missions.
This is the
national road SS 16 on the lowland, looking North.
The airfield began just
a few meters after the bridge of the Mergolo stream.
To the left in the hill there is the railroad joining
the cities: Bari (left)
and Pescara (to the right).
The grey stream at left marked the northern boundary of Cutella.
First view of the
small stream, without name, that races toward the Adriatic Sea
.
This is the
end point of the old airfield.
Update 2016:
Bruce Nash, the son of 3SQN's Commanding Officer at Cutella in
1944 (Murray Nash),
has supplied a recent satellite photo showing the strong erosion
currently occurring
where the beach san-dunes had been bulldozed to allow the PSP
metal runway to be laid out.
Armourers and Engine Fitters
working on a Kittyhawk at Cutella, April 1944.
[AWM MEC1374.]
See also: Bruce Burchfield's Cutella Diary.