Nouvion Airfield![]() | |
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Part of Twelfth Air Force | |
Coordinates | 35°40′35.21″N000°10′53.43″E / 35.6764472°N 0.1815083°E |
Type | Military airfield |
Site information | |
Controlled by | United States Army Air Forces |
Site history | |
Built | 1942 |
In use | 1942-1944 |
Nouvion Airfield was a pre-war airport and World War II military airfield in Algeria, located about 5 km west of Camp Militaire d' El Ghomri in Mascara province; about 76 km east of Oran.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. The capital and most populous city is Algiers, located in the far north of the country on the Mediterranean coast. With an area of 2,381,741 square kilometres (919,595 sq mi), Algeria is the tenth-largest country in the world, the world's largest Arab country, and the largest in Africa. Algeria is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east by Libya, to the west by Morocco, to the southwest by the Western Saharan territory, Mauritania, and Mali, to the southeast by Niger, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. The country is a semi-presidential republic consisting of 48 provinces and 1,541 communes (counties). It has the highest human development index of all non-island African countries.
Oran is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its commercial, industrial, and cultural importance. It is 432 km (268 mi) from Algiers. The total population of the city was 759,645 in 2008, while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000 making it the second largest city in Algeria.
The facility was built in the 1930s as a civil airport. In the immediate aftermath of the Allied Operation Torch landings in Algeria on 8 November 1942, the airport was taken over by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force as a military airfield.
Operation Torch was an Anglo–American invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. It was aimed at reducing pressure on Allied forces in Egypt, and enabling an invasion of Southern Europe. It also provided the ‘second front’ which the Soviet Union had been requesting since it was invaded by the Germans in 1941. The region was dominated by the Vichy French, officially in collaboration with Germany, but with mixed loyalties, and reports indicated that they might support the Allied initiative. The American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commanding the operation, planned a three-pronged attack, aimed at Casablanca (Western), Oran (Center) and Algiers (Eastern), in advance of a rapid move on Tunis.
The Twelfth Air Force is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.
When taken over by the USAAF, Nouvion consisted of basically one long building and a rough airstrip. The Army Corps of Engineers moved in to upgrade the facility to minimum military requirements. The airport's runway was improved and a pierced steel planking (PSP) parking apron was constructed, utilizing the few permanent existing structures. Tents were used for ground support operations and personnel billeting.
After several weeks, the 1st Fighter Group arrived at the field from Oran Tafaraoui Airport on 20 November, operating P-38 Lightnings.
During its entire tenure at the airfield, the 1st flew combat operations while ongoing construction continued. It moved east on 14 December to Biskra. Other units that were assigned to Nouvion were:
Active operations at the airfield ended by the end of May 1943, as the front moved east into Tunisia. The Americans dismantled their facilities by the end of July and returned the former airport to French authorities. Today, the airfield is part of the Algerian Military Camp Militaire d' El Ghomri.
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