Telerghma Airport is a joint-use civilian/military airport in

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, just south of the city of Telerghma, about 300 km east of Algiers

History

Built by the French Colonial government 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 opposing ...

, the small airport was seized by American Forces in the initial aftermath of the Operation Torch 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 medium bombers to begin using the facility, now known as "Telerghma Airfield." Major

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 ...

units assigned to the airfield during the North African Campaign were: *

, 13 December 1942 – 10 May 1943, B-26 Marauder *

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, 21 December 1942 – 1 January 1943, B-25 Mitchell * 319th Bombardment Group, 12 December 1942 – 3 March 1943, B-26 Marauder *

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, 5 May-13 June 1943,

P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive tw ...

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, 24 December 1942 – 7 January 1943; 20 February-2 March 1943,

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

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 ...

, 17 January-9 March 1943,

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 ...

82d Fighter Group 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

, January-28 March 1943,

After the Battle of North Africa ended, Telerghma Airfield was converted into a Bombardment Training Center, used to instruct French Air Force 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

*

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