NAS Sigonella
15 JUNE 1959
NAS SIGONELLA
After World War II, Americans found it impossible to return to the isolation from European events we had enjoyed since our Revolution. The vast Atlantic and Pacific Oceans no longer presented obstacles to an attacker, and the new political climate in Europe demanded our attention. England, our strong ally, faced economic ruin and the disintegration of her far-flung empire, an empire that had afforded us access to distant bases–effectively an “early warning system” for world turmoil. Secondly, the late 1940s brought the emergence of Russian Communism. Lacking a warm-water port, the Russian’s had long eyed the Mediterranean, and the early 1950s brought a need to surveil Russian Navy activities in that sea. The central Mediterranean chokepoint at Sicily/Malta became strategic. Initially, our P-2 “Neptune” patrols operated out of space borrowed from the British Hal Far airhead on Malta. From here our P-2s could monitor all traffic moving between the eastern and western Mediterranean. But crowding at Hal Far and the advent of Maltese independence in the mid-1950s spurred US interests in an alternative basing site.
NATO undertook discussions with the Italian government that resulted in an agreement on 25 June 1957 to apportion the site of a former WWII Luftwaffe auxiliary airstrip on Sicily. Men and equipment began transferring from Hal Far within the week, and the first aircraft, a USMC R4QD, arrived on August 8th. Two years of construction on the runway and support facilities allowed the commissioning of the new Naval Air Facility (NAF) Sigonella on this date. The base was divided into two locations from the beginning. NAF 1 sheltered barracks, MWR, and personnel support activities. Seven miles to the west, NAF 2 held the runway and flight line. The dispensary on NAF 1 opened in October 1959 (site of the modern family service center) and was staffed with a GMO, a flight surgeon, a dentist, two nurses, and 15 Corpsmen. The modern 3-story Naval Hospital on NAS 1 was opened on the site of the former Rocky Hollow Golf Course, and is named for William J. Anthony, Jr., the first child born in that facility on 30 January 1993. NH Sigonella today administers our clinics in Bahrain and Crete.
One of Sigonella’s moments in the spotlight came in October 1985 when Palestinian terrorists captured the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro. The Egyptian airliner used for their escape to Tunisia was intercepted by US warplanes and forced down at NAS Sigonella, where the terrorists were taken into Italian custody. Over the years the base has quietly executed the Navy’s mission in the Mediterranean, today supporting both 6th Fleet and Southwest Asia operations.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 21 JUN 24
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
“History.” NAS Sigonella website. AT: https://www.cinc.navy.mil/ Sigonella/AboutCNIC/History/index.htm, retrieved 14 March 2009.
Site visit, NAS Sigonella, July 2008-July 2010.
Sweetman, Jack. American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3rd ed. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, pp. 252-53.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: The abandoned concrete structure visible just beyond the perimeter fence from Naval Hospital Sigonella is the remnant base of a WWII German radar array. To their credit, the Sicilians have preserved many German bunkers and structures from the WWII occupation.
The British granted Maltese independence on 21 September 1964. The former Hal Far air base has been taken over by industrial concerns, however the scars of the runways can still be seen on Google Earth as a “V” formation at the extreme southeastern tip of the island.
Construction of the modern Naval Hospital Sigonella began after our brushes with Libyan strongman COL Omar Khadafi and the suspicion that Libya might be developing nuclear weapons. As a result, NH Sigonella is the only Navy Medicine facility hardened against a nuclear blast.
The R4Q was the USMC designation for the C-119 “Packet” (Fairchild Aircraft). Its distinctive box tail and generous carrying capacity earned it the nickname “flying boxcar.” Later versions were flown into the 1960s.
