The main entrance at Aviano Air Base, Italy, is shown in this undated photo. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy — Italian military experts successfully defused an unexploded bomb that’s kept a small area of the base closed off for about a month, according to local media and Italy’s defense ministry.
After being defused, the ordnance was transported to a safe area and detonated, the Italian ministry said March 29.
Aviano Air Base’s main gate, located just outside the cordoned area, was closed during the Sunday operation in March, according to Il Gazzettino, a local newspaper. Traffic was restricted and redirected by local police officers.
The exact type of device in question has not been made public. Il Gazzettino described it as a 100-pound bomb dropped by American forces. It speculates that it was dropped in January 1944 by either a B-17 or B-24 during flights over the area.
No sources were cited, which is not unusual for an Italian media report.
The 31st Fighter Wing public affairs office declined to answer queries about the bomb, directing questions to the Italian air force. A query to the local spokesman for ITAF went unanswered.
The bomb was reportedly discovered during construction work on an unused hangar that has been undergoing renovations for years. When the bomb was found Feb. 26, authorities closed the main gate temporarily as a precaution. However, the area, which includes outdoor recreation facilities and auto skills shops, has remained off-limits since then.
The local population was advised to stay away from the area while experts from the Italian army’s 3rd Engineer Regiment attempted to dispose of an unexploded bomb.
The 3rd Engineer Regiment is based at a barracks in Udine named after Giovanni Battista Berghinz, an Italian army officer who refused to cooperate with the Nazis in World War II and was eventually tortured and killed by them.
