Wheelus Air Base
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wheelus Air Base (IATA: TIP, ICAO: HLLL) was an air base used by the US Air Force on the coast of Libya. It is located about seven statute miles (11 km) east of Tripoli.
Its geographic coordinates are: 32° 53' 39" North, 13° 16' 34" East. Its elevation is 36 feet (11 m) AMSL.
It was first used by the USAF as a bomber base in 1943. It was renamed Wheelus Air Base in 1945, and remained in American hands until 1970, one year after Colonel Gaddafi took power. The base was then renamed to Okba Ben Nafi Air Base and taken over by the Soviet Air Force.
With its 4,600 Americans, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya once called it "a Little America...on the sparkling shores of the Mediterranean," although temperatures at the base frequently reached 110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (43 to 50 degrees Celsius).
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[edit] Origins
Wheelus Air Base was originally built by the Italian Air Force in 1923 and known as Mellaha Air Base.
Mellaha was used by the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of North Africa, with the Germans using it for short range recon units, as well as coastal and naval recon units. Special weather recon units also existed at Mehalla. The main Luftwaffe unit was the 2nd staffel of the Aufklärungsgruppe (H) 14 or 2.(H)/14.
The squadron was equipped with twelve single-engined Henschel Hs 126, an aircraft with 2-man crews, which could cover approx 710 km, with a maximum speed of 360 km/h. Three liaison aircraft in the form of Fieseler Fi 156 Storch and a Junkers Ju 52 for transport of men and material(...?)
It was captured by the British 8th Army in January 1943.
[edit] World War II
The US Army Air Force began using Mellaha as a base in January 1943. It was used by the 376th Bombardment Group (Heavy) of the 12th Air Force for B-24 bomb missions into Italy and southern Germany.
On 15 April 1945 Mellaha AAF was taken over by USAAF’s Air Training Command. It was renamed Wheelus Army Air Field (AAF) on 17 May 1945 in honor of USAAF Lt Richard Wheelus who had died earlier that year in a plane crash in Iran.
Wheelus AAF was inactivated on 15 May 1947, then reactivated as Wheelus Air Base (AB) on 1 June 1948 and transferred to the USAF Military Air Transport Service (MATS).
With the crowning of His Majesty King of Libya Mohammed Idris Al-Sanusi I in 1951, USAFE Europe-based fighter-bomber units also began using Wheelus AB and its nearby El Watia Gunnery Range for gunnery and bombing training. A further agreement between the United States and Libya, signed in 1954, granted the U.S. the use of Wheelus and its gunnery range until December 1971.
[edit] Cold War use By USAF
[edit] Military Air Transport Service Use
The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) activated the 1603rd Air Transport Wing at Wheelus on 1 June 1948. The 1603rd flew C-47 and C-54s to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Cyprus, and operated the base transport control center until 1952. The 58th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service (ARRSQ) operated out of Wheelus until 1970 when they were relocated to the 67th ARRSQ in the UK. They flew 3 HH-3E Jolly Green Giant helicopters, and 3 HC-130 refueling tankers.
MATS withdrew and relocated to Rhein Main AB, Germany in January 1953, however MATS and later Military Airlift Command (MAC) aircraft were frequent visitors at Wheelus and maintained a small detachment there until the base's closure in 1970.
[edit] Strategic Air Command use
As the Cold War overtook post-WW II international politics, on 16 November 1950 USAF's Strategic Air Command (SAC) began deploying B-50s, B-36s, B-47s and support aircraft (KB-29, KB-50, and KC-97 tankers) from US air bases to Wheelus. The base became one of several SAC forward operating locations (FOLs) in North Africa, becoming a vital link in SAC war plans for use as a bomber, tanker refueling and recon-fighter base.
Wheelus hosted SAC bomber deployments in 45-day rotational deployments, using Wheelus as a staging area for planned strikes against the Soviet Union.
SAC's use of Wheelus continued until 1970, when as part of the USAF withdraw from the base, its rotational deployments ended.
[edit] USAFE use
Wheelus AB was reassigned from MATS to the US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) on 16 October 1951, under USAFE's 7272nd Air Base Wing. The 7272nd was later designated a Fighter Training Wing and became the host unit at Wheelus until the base closure on 11 June 1970.
The 431st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was activated when the 172nd Fighter Squadron of the Michigan Air National Guard was ordered to active duty in June 1953. The Squadron was reassigned from Selridge AFB and deployed to Wheelus. It was equipped with twenty-five F-86Fs, two T-33s, and one C-47.
On 1 August 1956, the Headquarters of 17th Air Force moved to Wheelus Air Base, Libya from Rabat, Morocco, where it remained until relocating to Ramstein AB, Germany on 15 November 1959.
In September 1958, the 431st FIS moved to Zaragoza Air Base, Spain, and was transferred from USAFE to SAC's 16th Air Force.
The 20th Fighter Bomber Wing, based at RAF Wethersfield UK, established an operational detachment at Wheelus AB, in February 1958. This detachment managed the USAFE Weapons Training Center for month-long squadron rotations by the Europe-based USAFE tactical fighter wings.
This facility allowed USAFE units from Germany, such as the 36th and 49th TFWs in joint operations with their F-84 "Thunderchiefs" and the 50th TFW with F-100s trained at Wheelus. In addition, the United Kingdom based 20th and 48th TFWs with F-100Ds, and the 81st TFW trained in air-to-air and air-to-ground gunnery and delivery of conventional ordnance and nuclear "shapes" at the weapons range about 10 air miles further east of the air base.
USAFE's use of Wheelus continued until 1970, when as part of the USAF withdraw from the base the desert training there ended.
[edit] "Lady Be Good"
On 9 November 1958, British geologists flying over the desolate, sun-baked Libyan Desert spotted an aircraft resting on the sand dunes approximately 400 statute miles (640 km) south of Benghazi, Libya. A ground party reached the site in March 1959 and discovered the plane to be the Lady Be Good, a B-24D Liberator of the USAAF's 376th Bomb Group.
The USAAF bomber had disappeared without a trace after an 4 April 1943 high-altitude bombing attack by 25 Liberators from an AAF base at Sulûq (near Benghazi) against the harbor facilities at Naples, Italy.
All planes but one returned safely to Allied territory that night--the one which was missing was the Lady Be Good.
Evidence at the site indicated that the Lady Be Good crew had become lost in the dark on the return from Naples and mistaking the nighttime desert for the Mediterranean Sea. The aircrew had oveflown Sulûq southward into the desert. With the B-24's fuel supply depleted, the nine men aboard had bailed out and disappeared while attempting to walk northward to civilization.
Intensive searches were made for clues as to the fate of the crew to no avial. In 1960 the remains of eight airmen were found, one near the plane and the other seven far to the north. The body of the ninth crewman was never found. Five had trekked 78 miles (125 km) across the tortuous sand before perishing and one had gone an amazing 109 miles (175 km). In addition, they had lived eight days rather than only the two expected of men in the desert with little or no water.
Numerous parts from the Lady Be Good were returned to the U.S. for technical study. Also, some of the parts were installed in other planes, aircraft which then experienced unexpected difficulties.
A C-54 in which several autosyn transmitters were installed had propeller trouble and made a safe landing only by throwing cargo overboard. A C-47 in which a radio receiver was installed ditched in the Mediterranean, and a U.S. Army "Otter" airplane in which a Lady Be Good seat armrest was installed crashed in the Gulf of Sidra with 10 men aboard.
No trace was ever found of any of them; one of the few pieces washed ashore was the armrest of the Lady Be Good.
In 1960, members of the 7272nd ABW donated funds for the design and manufacture of a memorial window to the Lady Be Good and its crew in the Wheelus base chapel.
[edit] USAF withdrawal
Oil was discovered in Libya in 1959, and what had been one of the world's poorest countries became extremely wealthy. The United States enjoyed a generally warm relationship with Libya and pursued policies centered on interests in operations at Wheelus Air Base and the considerable U.S. oil interests.
In September 1969 Libya's king was overthrown by Muammar al-Gaddafi who ousted the Americans and British. Gaddafi demanded that Wheelus, which he saw as a vestige of European colonialism, be closed and its facilities turned over to the Libyan people.
While the U.S. wished to retain Wheelus Air Base, the strategic value of the facility had declined with the development of nuclear missiles that had effectively replaced many bomber bases. Indeed, Wheelus had primarily served as a training facility in the 1960s.
The Wheelus base agreement had just two more years to run, and in December 1969, the U.S. agreed to vacate the facility by June 1970.
[edit] USAF aircraft types at Wheelus Air Base
[edit] USAAF/Military Air Transport Service
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[edit] Strategic Air Command
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[edit] US Air Forces in Europe
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[edit] Wheelus Air Base USAF patch collection
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[edit] Libyan/Soviet Use
After the USAF left Wheelus became a Libyan People's Air Force installation and was renamed Okba Ben Nafi Air Base. OBN AB housed the LPAF's headquarters and a large share of its major training facilities.
LPAF Soviet-made MiG-17/19/25 fighters and Tu-22 bombers were based at Okba Ben Nafi Air Base. Of the combat aircraft, the United States Department of State estimated in 1983 that 50 percent remained in storage, including most of the MiG fighters and Tu-22 bombers.
In addition, aircraft and personnel of the Soviet Air Force took residence at Okba Ben Nafi Air Base. With Soviet assistance, the Libyan Air Force was organized into one medium bomber squadron, three fighter interceptor squadrons, five forward ground attack squadrons, one counterinsurgency squadron, nine helicopter squadrons, and three air defense brigades deploying SA-2, SA-3, and Crotale missiles
[edit] Operation Eldorado Canyon
At 0200 hours on 16 April 1986 Okba Ben Nafi AB, various Libyan government buildings, and three of 30 Libyan terrorist training camps were bombed by USAFE's 48th TFW F-111Fs, flying non-stop from RAF Lakenheath, UK, to Libya in "Operation Eldorado Canyon".
The mission was in retaliation for Libyan missile attacks on U.S. aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea and Libyan involvement in alleged terrorist attacks on U.S. servicemen in Europe.
Operation Eldorado Canyon included 18 48th TFW F-111F "Aardvark" fighter-bombers (Pave Tack-equipped), USN carrier-based F-14s and A-6Es and five EF-111A "Sparkvarks" from the 66th ECW/42ECS at RAF Upper Heyford, UK.
The 66th ECW Sparkvarks formed up with the attack force to provide electronic defense during the attack. One 48th F-111E (70-2389, callsign "Karma 52") was lost outbound from the attack to (presumably) a SAM or AAA hit. Major Fernando Ribas-Dominici (AC) and WSO Capt. Paul Lorence were lost. In respect for the crew, the last F-111F flown to retirement at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center used the same callsign.
The 14-hour 5,800-mile (9,300 km) round trip to Libya required numerous in-air refuelings (over seven million pounds of fuel), because countries closer to Libya—Spain, Italy, France, and Greece—had refused American planes permission to fly over or from bases in their countries.
Ironically, the 48th TFW had practiced for years at Wheelus (with F-100s) and later at Zaragoza AB Spain, with F-4D Phantoms and the F-111s, for just such a mission.
[edit] Post–Cold War
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the elimiation of military aid by the new Russian republic, Okba Ben Nafi AB drastically curtailed its military mission. The last major delivery of Soviet aircraft was 15 Su-24 Fencers in March/April 1989.
Much of Libyan air doctrine appears now to be of an ad hoc nature and contracted personnel from Yugoslavia. South Africa, Russia, North Korea and Pakistan provide piloting, maintenance and technical services.
UN sanctions were lifted in early 1999 and Libya has talked to Russia about upgrades for its MiG-21s and MiG-25s while also expressing an interest in MiG-29s, MiG-31s and long-range SAMs. However, many of the transport and combat aircraft are in storage.
[edit] Current use
In 1995, Wheelus was re-activated as a domestic airport and renamed Mitiga International Airport (MJI). Domestic flights to Benghazi and Musrata are flown, as well as international service to Istanbul, Turkey and Aleppo, Syria.
[edit] External links
- Air Mobility Command Successor of the Military Air Transport Service
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
