Ismailia Air Base

Ismailia Air Base
RAF Ismailia
Ismailia Air Base; RAF Ismailia
Near: Ismailia, Egypt
	Members of No. 458 Squadron RAAF at RAF Ismailia, 1942
	Ismailia Air Base Location in Egypt
Coordinates	30°35′53.75″N 32°14′12.86″E / 30.5982639°N 32.2369056°E
Site information
Owner	Egyptian Armed Forces
Operator	Royal Air Force; United States Army Air Forces; Egyptian Air Force
Controlled by	Royal Air Force (1935-1956); Ninth Air Force (1942) ; Egyptian Air Force (1956 – present)
Site history
Battles/wars	World War II Western Desert campaign;
Airfield information
Runways
13/31	3217 ft Asphalt

Ismailia Air Base is an Egyptian Air Force (Arabic: القوات الجوية المصرية, El Qūwāt El Gawīyä El Maṣrīyä) helicopter base, located approximately 4 km west-northwest of the city of Ismailia; (Al Isma`iliyah); 116 km northeast of Cairo.

History

Ismailia was a pre-World War II station, originally opened by the British about 1916.

On 5–7 November 1938, RAF Vickers Wellesley aircraft set a non-stop distance record by flying from Ismailia to Darwin, Australia, a distance of 7,162 miles (11520.4 km).

During World War II, the airfield, then known as RAF Ismailia or Ismailia Airfield, continued to be used as a military airfield by the British Royal Air Force and also the United States Army Air Force during the North African campaign against Axis forces.

Today, the airfield is an active Egyptian Air Force base. The base is housing an SA-342 Gazelle unit and further is this base being used for other military helicopter movements.

Major units assigned

Royal Air Force

No. 208 Squadron RAF 1920–1922
No. 113 Squadron RAF Aug-Sep 1917
No. 211 Squadron RAF Jan 1939-Nov 1940
No. 40 Wing RAF 1919-Apr 1920
- No. 33 Squadron RAF 1938 – ?

United States Army Air Forces (Ninth Air Force)

12th Bombardment Group October 1942-Undetermined (B-25 Mitchell)
436th Troop Carrier Group, 13 August – 18 October 1942. C-47 Skytrain
434th Bombardment Group, 14 August – 29 September 1942, B-25 Mitchell^{[dubious – discuss]}

^[1]

- "Gladiator Ace" (2010), B. Cull, Haynes Publishing, p. 20 -21.

References

^
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
- Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
- Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.