The Italian Aerospace Information Web
by Aeromedia - corso Giambone 46/18 - 10135 Torino (Italy)
The enigmatic "bunker" near Malpensa airport
A reader informed Aeromedia about the existence of a strange square tower located near the Southern perimeter of the Milan/Malpensa airport, Italy. Some years ago, when the road system around the airport was redesigned, the disturbing concrete building appeared, as a relict from the past, from the thick brushwood surrounding the airport. Now it stands, in decaying condition, alongside the new road heading to the town of Ferno.
During the closing days of WW II, the area which now belongs to Malpensa airport was part of a larger system of Italian military airports and aviation industry facilities encompassing Malpensa, Cascina Costa, Lonate Pozzolo and the historic Caproni factory of Vizzola Ticino, now a parking lot of Malpensa Terminal 1.
The military compound was then immersed in a dense acacia forest and thanks to camouflaged taxiways, remote dispersal areas and various defensive installations, it functioned as an extremely elusive nest for the 1st Fighter Group of Aviazione Nazionale Repubblicana, then commanded by ace Maggiore Adriano Visconti. When in May 1945 the Allied forces entered the area they found many burned-out Messerschmitt Bf 109G fighters, the very same aircraft that sustained the last stand against overwhelming enemy forces.
It is now difficult to find, in the area, material remnants of those tragic days. Our reader suggests that the tower may be related to that particular period. Apparently the state of decay and the thickness of the concrete, the reinforced metal door, a steel roof and other details are not particularly compatible with the typology of civil structures of a comparable age.
In the pictures: The intriguing concrete tower at the Southern outskirt of the Milan/Malpensa airport, Italy; Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 "Black 6"/G-USTV of Imperial War Museum, at La Ferté Alais air meeting 1993 in France. (Aeromedia)
(Aeromedia, April 2002)