Ismailia Air Base is an

Egyptian Air Force The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية المصرية, El Qūwāt El Gawīyä El Maṣrīya), is the aviation branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces that is responsible for all airborne defence missions and operates all milit ...

( ar, القوات الجوية المصرية, ') helicopter base, located approximately 4 km west-northwest of the city of

Ismailia Ismailia ( ar, الإسماعيلية ', ) is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, it is the capital of the Ismailia Governorate. The city has a population of 1,406,699 (or approximately 750,000, includi ...

; (Al Isma`iliyah); 116 km northeast of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

History

Ismailia was a pre-World War II station, originally opened by the British about 1916. On 5–7 November 1938, RAF

Vickers Wellesley The Vickers Wellesley was a medium bomber that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs at Brooklands near Weybridge, Surrey. It was one of two aircraft to be named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of We ...

aircraft set a non-stop distance record by flying from Ismailia to

Darwin, Australia Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. It is the smalle ...

, a distance of 7,162 miles (11520.4 km). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the airfield, then known as RAF Ismailia or Ismailia Airfield, continued to be used as a military airfield by the British

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and also the

United States Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

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 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria, South Africa See also * 12 (disambiguation) Twelve or 12 may refer to: * 12 (number) * December, the twelfth and final month of the year Years * 12 BC * ...

October 1942-Undetermined (B-25 Mitchell) *

436th Troop Carrier Group 436th may refer to: *436th Airlift Wing, an active United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Mobility Command Eighteenth Air Force based at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware *436th Operations Group, an active United States Air Force unit, the f ...

, 13 August - 18 October 1942.

C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...

* 434th Bombardment Group, 14 August – 29 September 1942,

B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

* Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. . * ** "Gladiator Ace" (2010), B. Cull, Haynes Publishing, p. 20 -21.

References

Royal Air Force Airfield Creation for the Western Desert Campaign

External links

Airports in Egypt World War II airfields in Egypt Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Egypt Airports established in 1916 {{RAF-stub