Taranto-Grottaglie Airport Aeroporto di Taranto-Grottaglie
IATA:TAR ICAO:LIBG
Summary
Airport type	Public
Serves	Taranto /Grottaglie,Italy
Elevation AMSL	215 ft / 66 m
Coordinates	40°31′03″N017°24′11″E / 40.51750°N 17.40306°E /40.51750; 17.40306
Map
Taranto Location of airport in Italy
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 17/35 3,200 10,500 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Passengers 1,083 Passenger change 21-22 10.1% Aircraft movements 913 Movements change 21-22 2.1% Cargo (tons) 908 Cargo change 21-22 -39.2%
Source:DAFIF[1][2]

Taranto-Grottaglie "Marcello Arlotta" Airport (Italian:Aeroporto di Taranto-Grottaglie "Marcello Arlotta") (IATA:TAR,ICAO:LIBG) is anairport servingTaranto andGrottaglie, bothcomunes in theprovince of Taranto inItaly. The airport is located 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) from the city ofMonteiasi, 4 km (2.5 mi) from Grottaglie and 16 km (9.9 mi) from Taranto. It is named for Marcello Arlotta (1886–1918), an Italian aviator.

The airport is used forgeneral aviation, with no commercial airline service. AsAlenia Aeronautica produces big fuselage parts of theBoeing 787 Dreamliner in a hangar located beside an airport's apron, multiple times a month, aBoeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter, also known asDreamlifter, lands at Taranto Grottaglie to pick up the parts and fly them to theBoeing factory atPaine Field andBoeing South Carolina atCharleston International Airport for final assembly. Those flights are operated byAtlas Air. It is also known asTaranto-Grottaglie Airport orGrottaglie Airport.In August 2012, the broker ESAFLY announced that it plans to commence scheduled services from Taranto.^[3]

In 1923 Grottaglie was a military airfield ofRegia Aeronautica.DuringWorld War II, it was used by Regia Aeronautica and after the Allied invasion of Italy by theUnited States Army Air Forces, and by the BritishRoyal Air Force. The airfield was designed for heavy bomber use, and was a major base forFifteenth Air ForceB-24 Liberator heavy bombers used in the strategic bombardment campaign againstGermany. In addition,Twelfth Air Force tactical bombers were stationed at the airfield which were used to support Allied ground forces in theItalian Campaign.

Known USAAF units assigned to the airfield were:

• 47th Bombardment Group, 24 Sep-15 Oct 1943,A-20 Havoc (12 AF)
• 321st Bombardment Group, 15 Oct-20 Nov 1943,B-25 Mitchell (12 AF)
• 5th Reconnaissance Group, (F-5 (P-38) Lightning), November 1943 - 28 December 1944
• 449th Bombardment Group, 4 Jan 1944-16 May 1945,B-24 Liberator (15 AF)
• 416th Night Fighter Squadron, 30 Sep 1943-28 Jan 1944,Bristol Beaufighter (12 AF)^[4][5]

Royal Air Force units included:

• No. 6 Squadron RAF, February–July 1944^[6]
• No. 14 Squadron RAF (detachment), October 1943–July 1944^[7]
• No. 38 Squadron RAF, December 1944–February 1945^[8]
• No. 92 Squadron RAF, September 1943^[9]
• No. 112 Squadron RAF, September 1943^[10]
• No. 126 Squadron RAF, October 1943–April 1944^[11]
• No. 185 Squadron RAF (detachment), February 1944–August 1944^[12]
• No. 221 Squadron RAF, March 1944–October 1944^[13]
• No. 249 Squadron RAF, December 1943–July 1944^[14]
• No. 250 Squadron RAF, September 1943^[15]
• No. 255 Squadron RAF, November 1943–January 1944^[16]
• No. 624 Squadron RAF, December 1944–February 1945^[17]

Soon after the airport had been seized by the Allies in September 1943, 205th Battery from89th (Cinque Ports) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, arrived to protect the USAAF build-up.^[18]

After the war ended, the airfield was turned over to local authorities, and in 1950 it was the air base of86º Gruppo Antisom (Antisubmarine Warfare Wing) of theItalian Air Force. In 1979 it was a naval air station of theItalian Navy.^{[citation needed]}

The airport resides at anelevation of 215 feet (66 m) abovemean sea level. It has onerunway designated 17/35 with anasphalt surface measuring 3,200 by 45 metres (10,499 ft × 148 ft).^[1]

As of July 2018, there is an announcement of operating the aerodrome as a commercial spaceport.^[19][20]

On Tuesday, October 11, 2022, aBoeing Dreamlifter aircraft (registration N718BA) on its way toCharleston, South Carolina,United States as Atlas Air flight 5Y-4231, lost one of its front wheels after take-off from the airport. The wheel crashed near a highway adjacent to the airport. The flight crew decided to continue their flight and landed safely some 11 hours later at their destination.^[21]

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org.

Annual passenger traffic at TAR airport.SeeWikidata query.

• List of airports in Italy

• Halley, James J. (1988).The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth, 1918-1988. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd.ISBN 0-85130-164-9.

Media related toTaranto Grottaglie Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Current weather for LIBG atNOAA/NWS
• Accident history for TAR atAviation Safety Network

• Airports in Apulia
• Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Italy
• Airports established in 1916
• Italian airbases

• Pages using the Graph extension
• Pages with disabled graphs
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata
• Articles containing Italian-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from September 2024
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension