- published: 08 Jul 2012
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Aviano (Friulian: Avian) is a town and comune of province of Pordenone at the foot of the Dolomites mountain range in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northern Italy.
Although Aviano has been inhabited only since the 10th century AD, evidence of a human presence dates to before the Romans entered the area in 186 BC. Most historians believe that Aviano developed with a commercial center located where present day Aviano is situated and a cultural and defensive center in the castle area. Aviano was a possession of the Patriarchal State of Friuli until 1420, when it came under the influence of the Venetian Republic. Aviano became a part of the Italian State in 1866.
In the neighbourhood is the ski resort of Piancavallo (1,267 m), at the foot of Monte Cavallo (2,250 m).
Aviano has a station on the Sacile-Pinzano Railway, which connects the city of Sacile, on the Venice-Udine railway, to the city of Pinzano, on the Gemona of Friuli-Casarsa railway.
An airbase (sometimes referred to as a military airfield, military airport, air force station or air force base) is an aerodrome used by a military force for the operation of military aircraft.
An airbase typically has some facilities similar to a civilian airport - for example air traffic control and firefighting. Some military aerodromes have passenger facilities; for example RAF Brize Norton in England has a terminal used by passengers for the Royal Air Force's flights by TriStar to the Falkland Islands.
Many airbases are located remotely from populated areas.[citation needed]
Some airbases have hardened aircraft shelters, or even underground hangars, to protect aircraft from enemy attack. Combat aircraft require storage of aircraft ordnance. An airbase may be defended by anti-aircraft weapons and force protection troops.
Road airbases are highways constructed to double as auxiliary airbases in the event of war. Nations known to utilise this strategy are Sweden [1], Finland, Germany, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey and Poland. In the case of Finnish road airbases, the space needed for landing aircraft is reduced by means of an arrestor wire, similar to that used on some aircraft carriers.[2]
Aviano Air Base (IATA: AVB, ICAO: LIPA) is a NATO Air Base under U.S. Air Force administration in northeastern Italy, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. It is located in Aviano municipality, at the foot of the Carnic Pre-Alps, or Southern Carnic Alps, about 15 kilometers from Pordenone.
Aviano is hosted by the United States Air Force 31st Fighter Wing (31 FW), a part of the United States Air Forces in Europe, a major command of the Air Force and also the air component of the United States European Command, one of the Unified Combatant Command of the Department of Defense.
The 31 FW includes a maintenance group, a mission support group, a medical group and an operations group (OG). The 31 OG's operational fighter squadrons are:
Both are equipped with Block 40 F-16CM Fighting Falcons, tail coded "AV".
Aviano's current mission is to conduct regional and expeditionary operations under NATO, SACEUR or national tasking.
Aviano Air Base was established by the Italian government in 1911, and 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.