Not jammed by the cloud cover, the Boeing B-17s Flying Fortress of 5th Bombardment Wing, 15th Air Force, US Army Air Force, at the time based in Italy, in Foggia Airfield Complex, bombing at high altitude the assigned target, Graz, Austria, 3 March 1945. Note the condensation trails, the bomb bays open and the "balloons" of enemy anti-aircraft fire. Victor Sierra

Flying Fortress over Austria

Italy 1944: USAAF's North American P-51B Mustang of 31st Fighter Group going to take off a combat mission from San Severo Airfield. Note auxiliary fuek tanks under wings and the runway in pierced steel planking.  Built by United States Army Corps of Engineers (COE) in late September 1943, located approximately 40 km north-northwest of Foggia, part of Foggia Airfield Complex, San Severo was a temporary airfield used primarily by Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Force reconnaissance and fighter units. In particular: 90th Reconnaissance Wing, 1 December 1943-4 April 1945; 3d Reconnaissance Group, 8 December 1943-4 January 1944; 5th Reconnaissance Group, 8 December 1943-11 October 1944; 31st Fighter Group, 2 April 1944-3 March 1945. At war ended, the San Severo Airfield was closed in September 1945 and abandoned. Today is an agricultural area.
After operational cycles in UK (Spitfire V) and North Africa (Spitfire IX), in April 1944, after being assigned to Fifteenth Air Force, the 31st Fighter Group was equipped with North American Mustang (P-51B and C and late D) and engaged primarily, from this Italian base, in missions to escort heavy bombers to enemy targets in Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Greece. The 31st earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for an 21 April 1944 mission to cover a raid on production centers in Romania. It escorted reconnaissance and cargo aircraft participating in the airborne invasion of Southern France strafing airfields and communications targets of German forces. As part of a Fifteenth Air Force task force, it attacked targets in Romania while flying to Russia on 22 July 1944. After escorting P-38 Lightning aircraft from a Russian base for a raid on an airdrome in Poland on 25 July, it attacked a German fighter-bomber force and a truck convoy, earning a second Distinguished Unit Citation. In April 1945, when Allied forces pursued their final offensive in Northern Italy, the group strafed enemy rail and highway traffic.  Returned in USA, Drew Field, Florida, in August 1945, the 31st Fighter Group  was inactivated on 7 November 1945. The 31st Fighter Group  is the direct ancestor of today's 31st Fighter Wing from 1994 based again in Italy, Aviano Air Base, and equipped with F-16. Victor Sierra

Mustang at San Severo

The B-17s Flying Fortress of 463d Bombardment Group in flight 17 February 1945 during a mission. The aircraft visibile from the left side of the cockpit is the B-17G-60-DL tail number 44-46700 built by Douglas/Long Beach. This plane is bare metal while the others, perhaps precedent-built, are again olive drab. The air base of 463d BG was, 9 March 1944-25 September 1945,  Celone Airfield, an abandoned German fighter base, located approximately 1 km W-NW of Foggia, rebuilt in Foggia Airfield Complex by United States Army Corps of Engineers (COE) in early 1944 like semi-permanent heavy bomber airfield used by Fifteenth Air Force. Opened 15 February 1944, last combat operations  in late April 1945, closed October 1945. 
Constituted as 463d Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 19 May 1943, activated on 1 August 1943, trained with B-17 for duty overseas, this BG oved to Italy, February–March 1944, and assigned to 15th Air Force with 772d, 773d, 774th and 775th Bombardment Squadrons. The 463d BG entered in combat on 30 March 1944 operating chiefly against strategic objectives and striking targets as marshaling yards, oil refineries, and aircraft factories in Italy, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Greece. Distinguished Unit Citation (DCU) for bombing oil refineries in Ploesti on 18 May 1944: when clouds limited visibility to such an extent that other groups turned back, the 463d proceeded to Ploesti and, though crippled by opposition from interceptors and flak, rendered destructive blows to both the target and the enemy fighters. Second DCU for leading the wing through three damaging enemy attacks to bomb tank factories in Berlin on 24 March 1945. Also engaged interdiction and support missions and bombed bridges during May and June 1944 in the campaign for the liberation of Rome, The 463d BG also participated in the invasion of Southern France in August 1944 by striking bridges, gun positions, and other targets. Hit communications such as railroad bridges, marshalling yards, and airdromes in the Balkans. During March and April 1945 the 463d BG operated primarily against communications in Northern Italy  .
After V-E Day, transported personnel from Italy to Casablanca for return to the US. Inactivated in Italy on 25 September 1945. Flew 222 combat missions; 91 aircraft lost. Victor Sierra

