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Aviano Air Base is a United States Air Force airbase in northeastern Italy, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. It is located in Aviano municipality, at the foot of the Carnic Alps, about 15 kilometers from Pordenone.

The host wing is the 31st Fighter Wing, which includes two F-16 fighter squadrons, an operations group, a maintenance directorate, a mission support group, and a medical group.

Aviano's current mission is to conduct regional and expeditionary operations under NATO, SACEUR or national tasking.

Pre-dating the U.S. Air Force, Aviano Air Base was established by Italy in 1911, it was used as training base for Italian pilots and construction facility for aircraft parts. During World War I, Italy used the airfield in missions against the Austro-Hungarian and German armies. At that time, two Italian aviators, Captain Maurizio Pagliano and Lieutenant Luigi Gori, conducted an unauthorized, but heroic and successful, air raid on the Austrian naval yards in Pula, in what is now Croatia. In their honor, the base's name was officially changed to Aeroporto Pagliano e Gori, in 1919. During the war the airfield was also overrun by the Austro-German army. Between the two wars the airfield was again used as a training base.

During World War II, both the Italian Air Force and the German Luftwaffe flew missions from Aeroporto Pagliano e Gori. British forces captured the base in 1945; they conducted air operations there until 1947, when the Italian Air Force resumed operational use of the airport. The Italian Air Force used the base until 1954.

US F-16s at Aviano

In 1954, the U.S. and Italian governments signed a joint-use agreement that brought the base into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Headquarters of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) officially activated the airfield on February 15, 1955 with the activation of the 7207th Air Base Squadron.

Beginning in the 1950s and continuing until 1994, Aviano had no permanent tactical combat aircraft assigned. Instead, the base hosted rotational fighter deployments from Tactical Air Command bases in the United States in support of NATO alert commitments and Air Force weapons-training deployments. The 7227th Combat Support Group was the host unit at Aviano effective December 1, 1957, being replaced by the 40th Tactical Group on April 1, 1966 to handle the rotational units from the United States on a permanent basis.

On February 3, 1998, a jet on a training exercise from Aviano Air Base severed a cable car's cable over the Alps at Cavalese, Italy, causing 20 deaths. See "Cavalese cable-car disaster".

With the closure of U.S. operations at Torrejon Air Base Spain on May 21, 1992, the 401st Tactical Fighter Wing moved to Aviano, supplanting the 40th Tactical Group. After Hurricane Andrew destroyed Homestead AFB, Florida, the 401st was deactivated and replaced by the 31st Fighter Wing on April 1, 1994.

Allegations have been made that on February 17, 2003 , Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr was kidnapped by CIA agents while he was walking to his mosque in Milan, transported via Aviano Air Base to Alexandria, Egypt and turned over to the custody of Egypt's State Security Intelligence. In 2005 and 2006, Italian authorities issued warrants for dozens of persons they believe are connected to the kidnapping including a security forces commander at Aviano Air Base at the time of the alleged abduction.

The layout of Aviano Air Base is unique because the community consists of seven areas, which include the administrative, community and support areas, the 16th Air Force command compound, the flight line area, a munitions storage area, a civil engineering complex, a recreational area and a decommissioned fuel railhead. Aviano Air Base is divided into nine areas stretched between the towns of Aviano and Pordenone, nine miles south of the base. In the wake of the Aviano 2000 project, many elements of the scattered areas are being consolidated into the flightline area. The major areas are:

• Area A1 contains a few of Aviano's support functions (such as the library and chapel) and the newly built school for the base population's children.
• Area A2 contains the Fitness Centers, Dining Halls, some older Dormitories, Thrift Shop and Fire Department.
• Area C contains Civil Engineering activities, Initial Issue, and contractor facilities.
• Area E, 16th Air Force Headquarters area, contains AFN, some communications functions (base operators) and K-9 facilities. The Italian Carabinieri (military police) also have their base headquarters in this area.
• Area F is the flightline area, and by far the largest area in Aviano. This sprawling complex contains the active runway and two taxiways, the operational and support units: 31st Fighter Wing Commander's Office, a portion of the Traffic Management Office, Air Mobility Command Passenger Terminal, Supply, Security Force Offices, flying squadrons, new dormitories, Billiting, BX and Commissary, Food Court, Post Office, Movie Theater, Fitness Centers, Recreational Area (ball parks, track, campground), Golf Course, Pass & Registration, and Drivers Testing. The US Army also has a Blackhawk helicopter unit operating out of the north corner of Area F.
• Area G is the highly secured Munitions Storage Area located in an isolated area to the east of the flightline, and is the primary inventory for live ammunition, bombs, rockets, and guided missiles needed for both peacetime and wartime base operations.

Serving a population of roughly 5,400, the water system features six potable wells and two emergency links to the municipal system. Treatment is minimal, usually chlorine injection at the wellheads. Water in one base well had excessive tetrachloroethene (PCE) in the fall of 1999. PCE is a solvent used to clean machinery, electronic parts and clothing. The well was immediately closed and the public notified. Follow-up sampling detected no further problems or threats to health. The average daily water production is 400,000 to 600,000 gallons

• Massacre of Cermis
• United States Air Forces in Europe

• Donald, David, Century Jets - USAF Frontline Fighters of the Cold War.
• Endicott, Judy G., USAF Active Flying, Space, and Missile Squadrons as of 1 October 1995. Office of Air Force History
• Fletcher, Harry R., Air Force Bases Volume II, Active Air Force Bases outside the United States of America on 17 September 1982, Office of Air Force History, 1989
• Martin, Patrick, Tail Code: The Complete History Of USAF Tactical Aircraft Tail Code Markings, 1994
• Ravenstein, Charles A., Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977, Office of Air Force History, 1984
• Rogers, Brian, United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978, 2005
• USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers—1908 to Present [1]

This article incorporates text from http://www.aviano.af.mil, a public domain work of the United States Government.

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