Djilma Airfield is an abandoned military airfield in
Tunisia, located about 2 km north of Jilma (Sidi Bu Zayd); approximately 180 km west-southwest of
Tunis.
The airfield was built during
World War II as a temporary field which was used by the
United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force 31st Fighter Group
31 (thirty-one) is the natural number following 30 and preceding 32. It is a prime number.
In mathematics
31 is the 11th prime number. It is a superprime and a self prime (after 3, 5, and 7), as no integer added up to its base 10 digits ...
during the
North African Campaign against the German
Afrika Korps.
The 31st Fighter Group based three squadrons (307th, 308th, 309th) of
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
s at the airfield from 7 to 12 April 1943. It then moved to
Korba Airfield and afterwards, engineers came to the field and dismantled the facility.
Today there are little or no remains of the airfield, except the remains of a runway in the desert just north of the town of Jilma, visible from satellite imagery.
References
* Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. .
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Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Tunisia
World War II airfields in the United States
Airports established in 1942
1942 establishments in Tunisia