Kibrit Air Base
ضوء القاعدة الجوية |
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IATA: none – ICAO: none | |||
Summary | |||
Airport type | Military | ||
Owner | Egyptian Air Force | ||
Operator | Closed | ||
Location | Kabrit, Egypt | ||
Elevation AMSL | 1,560 ft / 475 m | ||
Runways | |||
Direction | Length | Surface | |
m | ft | ||
14R/32L | 2,684 | 8,805 | Asphalt |
14L/32R | 2,684 | 8,805 | Asphalt |
Kibrit Air Base is a closed Egyptian Air Force (Arabic: القوات الجوية المصرية, Al-Qūwāt al-Gawwīyä al-Miṣrīyä) base located in Egypt, approximately 20 miles north of Suez; 125 km east of Cairo. The name of the station came from a nearby village, and in Egyptian means "sulphur كبريت".
Contents |
During World War II the facility was known as RAF Station Kabrit, and was a major Royal Air Force facility which was used during the Western Desert Campaign. In 1941, it was where the Special Air Service (SAS) was formed. Beginning in 1943, United States Army Air Force Ninth Air Force units arrived to supplement the RAF against the Germans in the Western Desert. After the war, Karbit remained a RAF station until the breakdown in relations between the British and Egyptian governments in 1956 when the decision was taken to pull out British forces from the Canal Zone.
The base was taken over by the Egyptian Air Force and renamed "Kibrit", becoming one of its main air bases. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, it was a base for the EAF 20 Squadron, equipped with twelve Soviet-built MiG-15 aircraft. During the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the base was attacked by the Israeli Air Force, and many of its Soviet-built MiG-17 aircraft were destroyed on the ramp by the IAF's Dassault Mystère IVs. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War with Israel, the airfield was captured by Israeli ground forces that crossed the Suez Canal along with Kasfreet and Shalufa Air Bases, however it was not used by the Israeli Air Force.
Kibrit was used by the Egyptian Air Force until the 1980s and the EAF units and personnel moved to the new USAF built Fayid Air Base Currently, the airfield is closed and not on the EAF's current order of battle as being an active base. Its main runways are having their asphalt removed and it is unclear what the future holds for the airfield.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.