King Hussein Air Base

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King Hussein Air Base
King Hussein Air College
King Hussein Air Base (Jordan)
Red pog.svg
Characteristics
ICAO code OJMF
IATA code OMF
Coordinates

32 ° 21 '21 "  N , 36 ° 15' 33"  E Coordinates: 32 ° 21 '21 "  N , 36 ° 15' 33"  E
Height above MSL 683 m (2241  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 5 km northeast of Mafraq
Basic data
opening 1920s
operator Royal Jordanian Air Force
Start-and runway
13/31 2993 m × 45 m asphalt

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The King Hussein Air Base is a military airbase of the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) and is located about 55 km north-east of Amman in the northwest of Jordan near the town of Al-Mafraq and about 10 km from Syria away. It is home to King Hussein Air College , the flight school of the Jordanian Air Force. Both are named after Hussein I , King of Jordan from 1952 to 1999.

history

In the 1920s, RAF Mafraq was created by the British as a military airfield. From 1931 Mafraq became a hub for international flights, where refueling was possible and spare parts, personnel, freight and mail were reloaded. In 1951, the airfield was finally equipped with new buildings and a concrete runway before the British left RAF Mafraq and handed it over to the Jordanian government on May 31, 1957.

The base remained unused for about a year until the Royal Jordanian Air Force finally moved in and renamed it King Hussein Air Base . In June 1959 the 1st squadron with Hunter fighter planes was set up here, which was later followed by the 2nd squadron with Vampires , who both moved from Amman . The flight training also took place here in a 4th season from 1960, equipped with chipmunks , which was later given up again.

  • A Jordanian hunter captured by Israel

  • A restored Jordanian vampire

  • A chipmunk as a training aircraft

In 1967 the base was attacked by the Israeli Air Force during the Six Day War , the runway and part of the buildings were destroyed. Everything was makeshiftly restored, but initially not continued in regular operations, as the pilots were stationed in Iraq until 1968 . In 1969 it was decided to completely restore the airfield and so the Hunter Squadron was moved back to Amman. In September 1970, the Hunter Squadron was temporarily relocated to Prince Hassan Air Base , as the base at Mafraq was too easy a target, was so close to the Syrian border and was also threatened by Iraqi troops who were in Jordan.

Air College

1974 began the full-time pilot training at the King Hussein Air Base with the first degree in 1975. From 1978 it was finally called the King Hussein Air College and is home to flight squadrons 2, 4, 5 and 11 next to the Junior Command and the Staff School , which was founded in 1979 and the Air Command and Staff College, founded in 1990 but later relinquished. The Jordanian Air Force has been rated by the Israeli military several times as the Arab Air Force with the highest level of training.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Air Base and the Air College on the RJAF homepage
  2. ↑ Kenneth Pollack: Arabs at War, Lincoln , 2004; P. 267ff