Backlight of a North American B-25 Mitchell of USAAF’s 57th Bombardment Wing in mission over Mediterranean Sea. Date unknown but, perhaps, 1944 (the marginal date is that of dispatch from AAF HQ). Victor Sierra

B-25 in backlight

A B-25 Mitchell of 57th Bombardment Wing, US Army Air Force, in action over the Ancona’s harbor during the first air strike, October 16, 1943, against the principal town of Marche, on Adriatic coast of Italy. Victor Sierra

Air strike over Ancona

An aerial view of airstrip built by U.S. Army ahead the Nettuno’s beach shortly after the strengthening of bridgehead during Operation Shingle (landing at Anzio, January 1944). The Nettuno’s airstrip was used occasionally by Allied fighter bomber units, but above all by the ambulance aircraft for medical evacuation like the planes of 802d and 807th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadrons (MAETS). The first flight from the Nettuno airstrip was made on May 26, 1944, while additional holding units for air evacuation were to operate at various points, flying casualties to fixed hospitals in Naples and Caserta. Between May 26 and August 31, 1944, during the Italian Campaign, a total of 33,793 patients were evacuated by air from Fifth Army Hospitals. Throughout the Volturno and Winter Line Campaign, air evacuation flights operated from Naples and Foggia, with destination the Tunis-Bizerte area, while Hospital Ships were routed to Oran. Direct evacuation by air to the Zone of Interior began only out of Casablanca on July 3 and out of Naples on July 19, 1944. In the photo two C-47s during an operation of medical evacuation. Note the Dodge WC-54 ambulances surrounding the planes. Victor Sierra