Kibrit Air Base
Kibrit Air Base قاعدة كبريت الجوية RAF Kabrit | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Egyptian Air Force | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Closed | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Kabrit, Egypt | ||||||||||||||
| ElevationAMSL | 1,560 ft / 475 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 30°14′45″N032°29′24″E/ 30.24583°N 32.49000°E | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  Location of Kibrit Air Base | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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Kibrit Air Base(formerly Kabrit Air Base[1]) is an operationalEgyptian Air Force(Arabic:القوات الجوية المصرية,al-Qūwāt al-Gawwīyah al-Miṣrīyah) helicopter base located inEgypt,approximately 20 miles north ofSuezand 125 km east ofCairo.AnSA-342 Gazelleunit is based here. The name of the station came from a nearby village, and in Egyptian means "sulphur".Kabritnow is the name of apilot stationfor Suez canal navigation on the same location.
History[edit]
DuringWorld War IIthe facility was known asRoyal Air Force StationKabrit, (Landing Ground 213) and was a majorRoyal Air Forcefacility which was used during theWestern Desert Campaign.In 1941, it was where theSpecial Air Service(SAS) was formed. Beginning in 1943,United States Army Air ForcesNinth Air Forceunits arrived to supplement the RAF against the Germans in the Western Desert. After the war, Kabrit remained a RAF station, hosting transport squadrons, five circa 1946. This continued until the breakdown in relations between the British and Egyptian governments in 1956, when the decision was taken to pull out British forces from theSuez Canal Zone.
The airfield was taken over by the Egyptian Air Force and renamed "Kibrit", becoming one of its main airfields. During the1956 Suez Crisis,it was an airfield for 20 Squadron EAF, equipped with twelve Soviet-builtMikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15aircraft. During the1967 Arab-Israeli War,the station was attacked by theIsraeli Air Force,and many of its Soviet-builtMiG-17aircraft were destroyed on the ramp by the IAF'sDassault Mystère IVs.In the1973 Yom Kippur Warwith Israel, the airfield was captured by Israeli ground forces that crossed theSuez Canalalong with Kasfreet and Shalufa Airfields, however it was not used by the Israeli Air Force.
Kibrit remains an Egyptian Air Force base. Currently, the airfield houses an SA-342 Gazelle unit. Its main runways are having their asphalt removed, but the hangars are still being used for housing the helicopters.
Operational units and aircraft[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Michael Ashcroft (6 November 2014).Special Ops Heroes.Hachette.ISBN9781472223975.
- ^abSecret Document 161, Location of units in the Royal Air Force, 34th issue, July 1943, Royal Air Force Museum accession number PR02859.
- Jefford, C.G.RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912.Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001.ISBN1-84037-141-2.
This article incorporatespublic domain materialfrom theAir Force Historical Research Agency
- Maurer, Maurer.Air Force Combat Units of World War II.Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983.ISBN0-89201-092-4.
- Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969].Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II(PDF)(reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History.ISBN0-405-12194-6.LCCN70605402.OCLC72556.
- Royal Air Force Airfield Creation for the Western Desert Campaign
