Moi Air Base, formerly known as RAF Eastleigh and Eastleigh Airport is a military airport located to the east of

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

, in the

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

suburb. The airport is used by the Kenya Air Force. Additionally, the airfield is the home of the East African School of Aviation run by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, which was established at the airport in 1954 as the DCA training school. The airport is also used to train Kenyan Air Cadets. Due to its military status, the airport is not shown in any official map of Nairobi. Instead, the area is left blank. This does not affect

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

, though.

History

RAF Eastleigh was a

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 ...

airfield in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, in the

suburb of

. The name "RAF Eastleigh" was also used during 1935 for the airfield in England that became

RAF Southampton Southampton Airport is an international airport located in both Eastleigh and Southampton, Hampshire in the United Kingdom. The airport is located north-north-east of central Southampton. The southern tip of the runway lies within the Sou ...

in 1936. A detachment of

No. 45 Squadron RAF Number 45 Squadron is a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force. The squadron, which was established on 1 March 1916 as part of the Royal Flying Corps, currently provides flying training using Embraer Phenom T1s and operates under the command ...

arrived in December 1929.Eastleigh
/ref> The detachment was reportedly equipped with

Fairey III The Fairey Aviation Company Fairey III was a family of British reconnaissance biplanes that enjoyed a very long production and service history in both landplane and seaplane variants. First flying on 14 September 1917, examples were still in u ...

reconnaissance biplanes. The RAF Unit, Kenya, was established on 14 December 1935. On 15 December 1936, "B" Flight, 45 Squadron, by that time equipped with

Fairey Gordon The Fairey Gordon was a British light bomber (2-seat day bomber) and utility aircraft of the 1930s. The Gordon was a conventional two-bay fabric-covered metal biplane. It was powered by variants of the Armstrong Siddeley Panther IIa engine. A ...

aircraft, was expanded into No. 223 Squadron RAF. 223 Squadron stayed until 17 September 1939. By January 1940 No. 223 Squadron was located at Gordon's Tree, in the south of Khartoum, in the Sudan. The first RAF elements listed on "Air of Authority" for the originally named RAF Nairobi were: *RAF Unit, Kenya (14 Dec 1935 - 6 September 1939) *SHQ Rhodesian Air Unit (4 - 19 Sep 1939). By 3 September 1939 the Southern Rhodesia Air Section under Squadron Leader M. Maxwell had arrived at Nairobi in the

Kenya Colony The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in ...

. It was initially renamed No. 1 Squadron Southern Rhodesia Air Force, but then became No. 237 Squadron. *No 2 (Training) Flight, Kenya Auxiliary Air Unit (6 September 1939 - 1 August 1940) *

No. 237 Squadron RAF No. 237 Squadron was a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron. During the Second World War the unit was formed from No. 1 Squadron Southern Rhodesian Air Force for operations in North Africa. History No. 237 Squadron was formed at RAF Cattewater in A ...

(22 April - 30 September 1940) Eastleigh was the primary RAF station for East Africa, and home to

Air Headquarters East Africa Air Headquarters East Africa (or AHQ East Africa) was a command of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) formed on 19 October 1940 by expanding AHQ RAF Nairobi. On 15 December 1941, the command was reduced to Group status as No. 207 (General Purpos ...

after force reductions in the 1950s. However, because of its high elevation and short runways (which could not be extended because of its location close to the city), from the arrival of

No. 208 Squadron RAF No 208 (Reserve) Squadron was a reserve unit of the Royal Air Force, most recently based at RAF Valley, Anglesey, Wales. It operated the BAe Hawk aircraft, as a part of No. 4 Flying Training School. Due to obsolescence of its Hawk T.1 aircraft ...

in the late 1950s with its

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-R ...

s, jet fighters and bombers had to operate out of nearby Embakasi Airport. From 1945 to 1958, Eastleigh also operated as Nairobi's main international civilian airport.

British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...

(BOAC) and

East African Airways East African Airways Corporation, more commonly known as East African Airways, was an airline jointly run by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. It was set up on 1 January 1946, starting operations the same year. The airline was headquartered in the Sa ...

operated flights from Eastleigh until the opening of Embakasi Airport (now Jomo Kenyatta International) nearby in 1958. Beforehand, the suitability of Eastleigh to post-War commercial airliners became a burning question; it retained a dual military-civilian role while a site was sought for a more modern, bigger civil airport. Funding the new airport became a major hurdle. During World War 2, it was the location for No. 1414 (Meteorological) Flight RAF equipped with

Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed private ...

Boulton Paul Defiant The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any fixed forward-firing guns ...

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

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 ...

Percival Proctor The Percival Proctor is a British radio trainer and communications aircraft of the Second World War. The Proctor is a single-engined, low-wing monoplane with seating for three or four, depending on the model. Design and development The Proctor ...

and No. 1569 (Meteorological) Flight RAF equipped with Hurricanes.David Lee, ''Flight from the Middle East,'' 1980, 295-7. Appendix A is the RAF Order of Battle in AHQ Persia and Iraq, AHQ East Africa and HQ British Forces, Aden, in November 1945, pp295-298. See also Lake 1999, pp 87, 95. After the war No. 21 Squadron RAF, No. 30 Squadron RAF,

No. 82 Squadron RAF No. 82 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron that was first formed in 1917 and last disbanded in 1963. It served at times as a bomber unit, a reconnaissance unit and lastly as an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) unit. History For ...

(perhaps between 1947 and 1952, carrying out aerial surveying) and a Communications Flight operated from the base. After

Kenyan independence A part of Eastern Africa, the territory of what is known as Kenya has seen Homo (genus), human habitation since the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic. The Bantu expansion from a West African centre of dispersal reached the area by the 1st mill ...

in December 1963, the Kenya Air Force was formed in 1964. After the coup attempt by a group of KAF officers on 1 August 1982, the Kenya Air Force was disbanded and placed under the control of the

Kenyan Army The Kenya Army is the land arm of the Kenya Defence Forces. History The origin of the present day Kenya Army lie with the British Army's King's African Rifles. In the last quarter of the 19th Century the British began actively enforcing the aboli ...

. During this period, KAF Eastleigh was renamed "Moi Air Base."

References

* Jefford, C.G.''The Flying Camels: The History of No. 45 Squadron, RAF''. High Wycombe, UK: Privately Printed, 1995.

External links

Photographs of Eastleigh and other Nairobi airports from 50 years ago
* - Eastleigh Airport * Radfan Hunters

Airports in Kenya Military airbases Military locations of Kenya Buildings and structures in Nairobi {{Kenya-airport-stub