During the Second World War, the enormous profusion of aircraft fielded by the Anglo-Americans made the network of Italian airports totally insufficient, thus forcing the Allied commands to build new ones. On the Adriatic side it started from Puglia, where from December 1943 the entire strategic bombing force was deployed: in that region the heavy bombers and escort fighters used about twenty different airports and remained there until the end of the conflict.
On the contrary, the tactical bombing force equipped with medium bombers and fighter-bombers was necessarily obliged to follow the advance of the front from south to north, also relying on new newly built airports. This is also the case of Cesenatico where, at the end of November 1944, a so-called "Landing Ground" was built on the beach of Ponente.
As had already happened in Misano and Bellaria, where other airports had previously been built, the area of the coast line was also chosen for the construction of the Cesenatico airport. This same modus operandi would then condition the construction of the other airports of Cervia, Punta Marina and Foce Reno.
Once the place where the airport would be built was decided, teams of the Genius equipped with large bulldozers leveled and leveled the ground, felled shrubs, pines and other obstacles. Jute canvases were then laid out on which special perforated sheets were placed which, hooking together, formed an excellent surface: the "Pierced Steel Plank Landing Mat".
Even today, especially along country roads, you can see fences and gates made of those sheets. The tactical bombing force or Mataf consisted of the 12th Air Force USAAF, consisting of medium and light bombers as well as escort fighter groups.
The vestiges of cesenatico airport - made for the Martin Baltimore and De Havilland Mosquito of the 253rd Wing who had previously leaned on Falconara - have been found, in many cases, by the CRB 360°, the War Research Committee of Walter Cortesi who manages, on the coast of the northern Adriatic, about eighty bunkers of the Second World War and who deals, together with his team, with military archeology, or research with metal detectors of war finds – on land and at sea – of great historical interest.
The Committee holds, in addition to a rare collection of early metal detector models, some important war artifacts found over the years on the Romagna territory.
Thanks to the discovery of Baltimore pieces and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers of the 79th Fighter Group Usaaf, it was possible to retrace the history of the military airport of Cesenatico.
Today, with Walter Cortesi, head of the CRB 360° War Research Committee, we visited the Parco di Ponente in Cesenatico where, in 1945, an Anglo-American airport stood.
On a bumpy area, between dunes and swamps, the Americans - in a few days - with the help of their powerful caterpillars, leveled the entire territory and built a military stopover in record time.
Inside it were housed fighters and bombers who had only one mission: to destroy from the sky the German city of Munich and its surroundings.
After the Second World War, the airport was completely destroyed and, for many years, its existence was unknown. Until, a few decades ago, the tape of an American machine gun was found. From that moment, the park became an area of great historical interest for fans of military archeology.
Over the years, thanks to numerous researches with metal detectors, several war objects have come to light, such as the triggers of time bombs, the casings of American compasses and even very rare memorabilia, such as freeze-dried gasoline for military canteens.
Numerous aerial crushes took place at the airport. Among the most significant is that of a bomber in distress who, before reaching the airport, lost the entire load, an unknown number of incendiary bombs.
But also the stretch of sea in front of the coast of Cesenatico preserves the vestiges of that military settlement. A few miles from the coast, in 1972, a B17 aircraft shot down by German anti-aircraft was spotted. The crew, who managed to save themselves, were taken prisoner by German soldiers. To identify the carcass of the aircraft was, now 50 years ago, a Swiss tourist on board a fly.