Validation date: 28 02 2015
Updated on: 14 03 2015
Views: 5976
See on the interactive map:
Photo looking south taken in early 1944, with in the foreground a Lightning P38. The first airfield is Borgo, the second large airfield is Poretta (todays Bastia Poretta airport). Two more can be seen in the distance. Between the two nearest, a very small runway can be seen, which is the one created by the French and used by the Germans. This little track was used for Piper Cubs. US Groups based at Borgo were 52FG operating Spitfires, 111FG operating P-51 Mustangs and 415NFS operating Beaufighters. English pilots were operating at the field too, when 283 Sqn flew from here between December 1943 and April 1944. A French Group also operated from the airfield: GR 2/33 'Savoie' flew P-38 Lightnings and Spitfires (photo Dominique Taddeï via Mr Harry Oakley).
Aerial photo taken by a Lockheed F-5 23rd PRS in early August 1944, just before the Allied landings in Provence (southern France). Borgo is occupied by many different types of aircraft, including the Lockheed Lightning, Boeing B-17 and others. The runway is globally oriented 13/31, the visible threshold is the 13 threshold. The photo also clearly illustrates the land (and only land, because the Germans had stolen the rails to recover steel) of the railway line Ajaccio-Bastia on the right (photo Dominique Taddeïvia Mr Harry Oakley).
Borgo 1948. There is no longer any aeronautical activity. (Source: geoportail.fr)
Borgo 1958, The airfield remains visible. (Source: geoportail.fr)
Borgo 2007. The ground traces reveal nothing of the presence of an airfield but imagine the location of the track.
(Researched by Olivier)