Naples Municipal Airport
The facility was established in 1942 as Naples Army Airfield by the United States Army Air Forces. It was initially assigned to the Southeast Training Center (later Eastern Flying Training Command). Provided basic (level 1) flight training to flight cadets by Embry-Riddle Co; Fairchild PT-19s were the primary trainer used. Along with the flight training, was a sub-base to Buckingham Army Airfield for flexible gunnery training, which the 75th Flying Training Wing supervised. Inactivated on November 1, 1945, being turned over to the War Assets Administration for conveyance to civil control as a public airport.
Allied invasion of Italy
With the Salerno beachhead secure, the Fifth Army began its attack northwest towards Naples on 19 September. The day afterwards, Major General Ernest J. Dawley, the U.S. VI Corps commander, was relieved of his command by Clark and replaced by Major General John P. Lucas. The U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, after suffering serious casualties near Altavilla, was shifted to British X Corps, joining the U.S. Army Rangers and the British 23rd Armoured Brigade on the Sorrento Peninsula to flank the German defenses at Nocera Inferiore, Sant'Antonio Abate, and Angri, which the British 46th Infantry Division attacked. The British 7th Armoured Division, passing through the 46th Division, was assigned the task of taking Naples, while the newly landed U.S. 3rd Infantry Division took Acerno on 22 September and Avellino on 28 September.