31°25′N 34°20′E / 31.417°N 34.333°E / 31.417; 34.333

Imperial Airways sign, Gaza, ca. 1935

RAF Gaza was an Royal Air Force airfield on the southwest coast of Mandatory Palestine, in the present day Gaza Strip.[1]

History

The airfield was one of the first to be built in Palestine. It was built in 1917 for military use by the Ottoman Empire, with German assistance.[2]

aircraft Hanno of Imperial Airways at Gaza, ca. 1935

RAF Gaza was used for passenger services by Imperial Airways (since 1927[3]) and KLM (since 1933[4]) as a stop en route to Baghdad and further to Karachi or Batavia, correspondingly.[5][6] In the 1930s, an illustrated London magazine proclaimed that passengers overnighting at Gaza, hailed as "the gateway to the Holy Land", were staying where Samson had once removed the city gates.[7]

During the Second World War RAF Gaza was used by a number of RAF squadrons, including 33, 45, 127, 208, 318 and 451 Squadrons. No. 2 Air Crew Officers School RAF was based on the airfield, and the Greek Training Flight RAF was also based there in 1941–1942. The airfield was used as the Middle East ammunition depot from July to September 1942.[8]

RAF Gaza was on the site of present-day Karni crossing[8] between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Although no remains of the airfield itself are visible today, the British concrete road linking the airfield with the ammunition storage areas (located about 6 km south of the airfield, still visible today) is visible and in good shape.[9]

Incidents

  • On February 14, 1930, an Imperial Airways de Havilland DH.66 Hercules (G-EBNA, City of Tehran) suffered a non-fatal landing mishap after the pilot misjudged the plane's altitude and struck a ridge 100 yards from the runway. The plane was damaged beyond repair. The incident took place during a passenger flight from Great Britain to India.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ A History of the RAF – Stations (G)
  2. ↑ "Chapter 1 – from Flying Camels to Flying Stars: Israel Reborn (1917-1948) | Israel Airline Museum".
  3. ↑ Peterson, J. E. (5 August 2016). Defending Arabia. Routledge. ISBN 9781317229995.
  4. ↑ "1933 Baghdad Palestine Flight Cover – BalkanPhila".
  5. ↑ KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
  6. ↑ Colonial Office, Great Britain (1934). "Report by His Majesty's Government ... To the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of the Cameroons Under British Mandate".
  7. ↑ Pirie, Gordon (2009). "Incidental tourism: British Imperial air travel in the 1930s". Journal of Tourism History. 1: 49–66. doi:10.1080/17551820902742772. S2CID 144454885.
  8. 1 2 "Israeli aviation site (Hebrew)". Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  9. ↑ A "Jerusalem Post" article
  10. ↑ "ASN Aircraft accident de Havilland DH.66 Hercules G-EBNA Gaza". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
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