Ain Beida Airport (french: Aéroport de Ouargla / Ain Beida) , also known as Ouargla Airport, is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

serving

Ouargla Ouargla ( Berber: Wargrən, ar, ورقلة) is the capital city of Ouargla Province in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria. It has a flourishing petroleum industry and hosts one of Algeria's universities, the University of Ouargla. The commune ...

, a city in the

Ouargla Province Ouargla or Warqla ( ar, ولاية ورقلة) is a province (''wilaya'') in eastern Algeria. Its capital is Ouargla. Other localities include Hassi Ben Abdellah and Hassi Messaoud. It contains the Issaouane Erg desert. History In the past Oua ...

of eastern

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. It is located southeast of the city. The airport is in the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

, about 540 km southeast of

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

. The Ourgla (OUR)

VOR-DME In radio navigation, a VOR/DME is a radio beacon that combines a VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) with a distance-measuring equipment (DME). The VOR allows the receiver to measure its bearing to or from the beacon, while the DME provides the slan ...

and Ourgla (OU)

Non-directional beacon A non-directional beacon (NDB) or non-directional radio beacon is a radio beacon which does not include directional information. Radio beacons are radio transmitters at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. NDB are ...

navigational aid Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

s are north of and aligned with the runways.

Airlines and destinations

World War II

During World War II the airport was known as Sedrata Airfield, and was used by the United States

Twelfth Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to U ...

in the Western Desert Campaign in 1942–1943. Known units assigned to the airfield were: *

17th Bombardment Group The 17th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. The group was last stationed at Hurlburt Field, Florida. The Group is a direct successor to the 17th Pursuit Group, one of the 15 original combat air groups formed by the ...

, 10 May-23 Jun 1943,

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

* 319th Bombardment Group, 1-26 Jun 1943,

B-26 Marauder The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in t ...

References

External links

* * Airports in Algeria World War II airfields in Algeria Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Algeria Buildings and structures in Ouargla Province {{Algeria-airport-stub