Moi Air Base (formerly RAF Eastleigh) | |||
---|---|---|---|
IATA: none – ICAO: none | |||
Summary | |||
Owner/Operator | Kenya Air Force | ||
Location | Eastleigh, Nairobi | ||
Built | 1930's | ||
Occupants | *Royal Air Force | ||
Runways | |||
Direction | Length | Surface | |
ft | m | ||
1 | 7,900 | 2,408 |
Moi Air Base, formerly known as RAF Eastleigh and Eastleigh Airport (ICAO: HKRE) is a military airport located to the east of Nairobi, in the Eastleigh suburb. The airport is used by the Kenya Air Force. Additionally, the air base 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.
It has a single 7900 ft runway.
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, though.
RAF Eastleigh was a Royal Air Force airbase in Kenya, in the Eastleigh suburb of Nairobi. The name "RAF Eastleigh" was also used during 1935 for the airbase in England that became RAF Southampton in 1936.
Eastleigh was the primary RAF station for East Africa. However because of its high elevation and short runways (which could not be extended because of its location close to the city), jet fighters and bombers had to operate out of nearby Embakasi Airport. Eastleigh also operated as a civilian airport with BOAC operating flights through the fifties and sixties.
It was the base for No. 1414 (Meteorological) Flight equipped with Gladiator, Defiant, Hurricane, Spitfire, Proctor and No. 1569 (Meteorological) Flight equipped with Hawker Hurricanes.