Gamal Abdel Nasser Airbase


Gamal Abdel Nasser Airbase is a Libyan Air Force base, located about 16 km south of Tobruk.
Before World War II, it had been an Italian Air Force airfield. A number of the former Italian buildings were seen remaining in 2003, during a courtesy visit by former RAF personnel, at which time no military aircraft were evident.

RAF El Adem

Prior to 31 March 1970, the airfield was known as Royal Air Force Station El Adem, and used by the RAF primarily as a staging post. This was for RAF and civil aircraft transiting from bases in Europe to others further East.
Royal Air Force Station El Adem was the fuel stop for the BOAC aircraft carrying the new Queen Elizabeth II on her flight from Entebbe to London on 7 February 1952.
In 1994, the remaining wreckage of Lady Be Good, a US Army Air Force B-24 Liberator heavy bomber that crashed-landed deep in the Libyan desert during WWII in 1943, was brought to the air base by a local Libyan team led by Dr. Fadel Ali Mohammed for storage and safekeeping. The remnants of the aircraft still remain there.

World War II

The airfield was largely reconstructed in 1942 by the Royal Air Force and brought into operational use on 12 December 1942. It was used during World War II by the RAF and the United States Army Air Forces during the North African Campaign against Axis forces.
RAF units which used the airfield were:
  • No 31 Air Stores Park ;
  • HQ No 262 Wing ;
  • HQ No 258 Wing ;
  • No. 2 Squadron RAAF ;
  • No 33 Air Stores Park ;
  • No 53 Repair and Salvage Unit ;
  • No. 80 Squadron RAF ;
  • Air Sea Rescue Flt ;
  • No. 73 Squadron RAF ;
  • No. 94 Squadron RAF ;
  • HQ No 211 Group
  • No 211 Group Communications Flt
  • No. 267 Squadron RAF
  • HQ No 243 Wing
  • No. 33 Squadron RAF
  • No. 117 Squadron RAF
  • No. 213 Squadron RAF
  • No. 238 Squadron RAF
  • No 12 Staging Post
  • HQ No 7 Wing
  • No 2915 Sqn RAF Regiment
  • No. 47 Squadron RAF
  • HQ No 240 Wing
  • No. 178 Squadron RAF
  • No. 462 Squadron RAF
  • No. 336 Squadron RAF
  • No 1900 AOP Flt
  • No. 249 Squadron RAF
  • Swifter Trials Flt
  • No 1564 Flt
  • No 1 Sqn RAF Regiment
USAAF Ninth Air Force units which used the airfield were:
The airbase is named after the Egyptian revolutionary Gamal Abdel Nasser, who served as President of Egypt. In 2013, the airport was officially reopened as Tobruk International Airport, with flights to Alexandria, Egypt.