Louis Gentil Field is an abandoned airfield in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, located approximately 6 km north-northeast of Youssoufia, about 170 km southwest of

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

History

Prior to

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 ...

, Louis Gentil Airport was a regional airport built by the French Colonial government, named after

Louis Gentil Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

, a French geologist. The airport was seized by invading Allied forces shortly after the

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

landings in November 1942 and used by 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 ...

as a

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 ...

fighter airfield during the North African Campaign. The 91st and 92d Fighter squadrons of the

81st Fighter Group 081 may refer to: Telephony * 081, the telephone dialing code for the City of Naples and surroundings in Italy * 081, a former dialling code for London, UK (1990–1995) * 081, a telephone area code for mobile operators in Lebanon * 081, a mobi ...

briefly used the airfield from mid-December 1942 through early 1943 flying

P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by the ...

s. The squadrons moved up to

Mediouna Airfield Mediouna may refer to: *Mediouna, Algeria Mediouna is a town and commune in Relizane Province, Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , ...

, and the airfield was returned to civil control. Today the remains of the main runway can be seen in an agricultural field, but no structures remain.

References

* Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. . * {{authority control Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Morocco World War II airfields in Morocco