Djilma Airfield
Encyclopedia
Djilma Airfield is an abandoned military airfield in Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

, located about 2 km north of Jilma (Sidi Bu Zayd); approximately 180 km west-southwest of Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....

.

The airfield was built during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as a temporary field which was used by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force 31st Fighter Group during the North African Campaign
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...

 against the German Afrika Korps
Afrika Korps
The German Africa Corps , or the Afrika Korps as it was popularly called, was the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II...

.

The 31st Fighter Group based three squadrons (307th, 308th, 309th) of Supermarine Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...

s at the airfield from 7 to 12 April 1943. It then moved to Korba Airfield
Korba Airfield
Korba Airfield is an abandoned military airfield in Tunisia, located about 3 km west of Hamadet Bir Messaouda in Nabul provience; 13 km north of Korbra, and 60 km east-southeast of Tunis....

and afterwards, engineers came to the field and dismantled the facility.

Today there are little or no remains of the airfield, except the remains of a runway in the desert just north of the town of Jilma, visible from satellite imagery.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK