Deversoir Air Base

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Deversoir Air Base RAF Deversoir LG-209
Near Abou Sultan, Egypt
RAF Deversoir - Airfield about 1945 mosaic
RAF Deversoir Location in Egypt
Coordinates	30°25′22″N 032°20′07″E / 30.42278°N 32.33528°E / 30.42278; 32.33528
Site information
Owner	Egyptian Armed Forces
Operator	Royal Air Force  United States Army Air Forces  Egyptian Air Force
Controlled by	Royal Air Force (1935-1956) Ninth Air Force (1942-45) Egyptian Air Force (1956-Present)
Site history
Battles/wars	World War II Western Desert Campaign Yom Kippur War Operation Abirey-Halev

Deversoir Air Base (LG-209) is an active airbase of the Egyptian Air Force, known as 'Abu Sultan', located approximately 19 km south-southeast of Ismailia (Al Isma`iliyah); 116 km northeast of Cairo. It was formerly a major Royal Air Force airfield known as RAF Deversoir built before World War II. A helicopter unit with SA-342 Gazelle helicopters is based here.

The remaining RAF units vacated Deversoir following the coup that saw Gamal Abdel Nasser seize power in June 1956.

History

Deversoir was a

The airfield received

Deversoir was used by the RAF after the war until March 1955 when it was handed over to the Egyptian Air Force.

RAF Deversoir was operative as 324 Fighter Wing in 1950 when it was the home of three squadrons of De Havilland Vampire aircraft plus three Gloster Meteors, one to each squadron. The squadrons were numbers 213 and 249. Some time near the end of WW2 the station had been used to house Italian prisoners of war and this was evidenced by a painting done by one of them which was present in 1950 - 1952 in one of the cookhouse dining room for other ranks.

During the mid 1950s Canal Zone patrols were carried out by RAF jets from the station. A rotation of standby aircraft from the station's Vampire squadrons was put in place, with RAF jets frequently scrambled to intercept Egyptian air force aircraft. This included Meteors and Constellations.

Relations between the United Kingdom and Egypt continued to deteriorate in the wake of the

213 (Fighter) Squadron, the last RAF flying squadron based there, disbanded at Deversoir on 30 September 1954, with the pilots and ground crew dispersed to other RAF stations outside Egypt.^[3]

Major units assigned

Royal Air Force^[4]

• No 33 Air Stores Park (4 - 17 Jul 1942, 2 Sep - 15 Oct 1943)
• No 63 Repair & Salvage Unit (7 Jul - Aug 1943)
• No 26 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit (6 Mar 1945 - 1 Jan 1946)
• HQ, No 324 Wing (28 Aug 1948 - Feb 1951)
• Known squadrons (dates assigned undetermined)

6, 8, 32, 73, 213, 249, 256 417, 680

United States Army Air Forces (Ninth Air Force)^[4]

• 57th Bombardment Wing
  5 June-28 August 1943
• B-25 Mitchell
• C-47 Skytrain
• 19th Photographic Mapping Squadron
  , January 30, 1944-31 Jan 1945 (B-24/F-7 Liberator)

See also

• List of World War II North Africa Airfields

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983.
  ISBN 0-89201-092-4
  .
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History.
  OCLC 72556
  .
• Royal Air Force Airfield Creation for the Western Desert Campaign