Telerghma Airport is a joint-use civilian/military airport in Algeria , just south of the city of Telerghma, about 300 km east 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 ...

History

Built by the French Colonial government prior to World War II, the small airport was seized by American Forces in the initial aftermath of 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 on 2 December 1942. By 13 December, French troops and United States Army Engineers had improved the runway sufficiently for

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 ...

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 ...

medium bombers to begin using the facility, now known as "Telerghma Airfield." Major Twelfth Air Force units assigned to the airfield during the North African Campaign were: *

, 13 December 1942 – 10 May 1943,

310th Bombardment Group 31 may refer to: * 31 (number) Years * 31 BC * AD 31 * 1931 CE ('31) * 2031 CE ('31) Music * ''Thirty One'' (Jana Kramer album), 2015 * ''Thirty One'' (Jarryd James album), 2015 * "Thirty One", a song by Karma to Burn from the album ''Wild, ...

, 21 December 1942 – 1 January 1943,

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 ...

* 319th Bombardment Group, 12 December 1942 – 3 March 1943,

14th Fighter Group 014 may refer to: * Argus As 014 * 014 Construction Unit * Divi Divi Air Flight 014 * Pirna 014 * Tyrrell 014 The Tyrrell 014 was a Formula One car, designed for Tyrrell Racing by Maurice Philippe for use in the season. The cars were powered by ...

, 5 May-13 June 1943, P-38 Lightning *

33d Fighter Group ''033'' or ''Zero Three Three'' is a 2010 Bengali film directed by Birsa Dasgupta in a directorial debut and produced by Moxie Entertainments. It stars Rudranil Ghosh and Parambrato Chattopadhyay. 033 is the STD code for Kolkata city, and the ...

, 24 December 1942 – 7 January 1943; 20 February-2 March 1943, P-40 Warhawk *

52d Fighter Group 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

, 17 January-9 March 1943, Spitfire * 82d Fighter Group, January-28 March 1943, P-38 Lightning After the Battle of North Africa ended, Telerghma Airfield was converted into a Bombardment Training Center, used to instruct

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...

ground and bomber crews in safe and effective tactical operation and maintenance of American fighter and bomber aircraft. The training center closed at the end of October 1944, and the airfield was returned to civil authorities.

References

* Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. . *
USAFHRA search for Telergma Airport

External links

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Airports in Algeria Aviation in Algeria Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Algeria World War II airfields in Algeria {{Algeria-airport-stub