Almaza Air Base
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Almaza Air Force Base Airport مطار ألماظة |
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RAF Avro York MW173, the personal aircraft of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, AOC Air Command South East Asia, at Almaza in 1946. In the background are Tiger Moths of the Egyptian airline Misr Airwork.
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Civil/Military | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Egyptian Air Force | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Cairo, Egypt | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 300 ft / 91 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 30°05′40″N 031°21′35″E / 30.09444°N 31.35972°ECoordinates: 30°05′40″N 031°21′35″E / 30.09444°N 31.35972°E | ||||||||||||||
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 Almaza Air Force Base Airport
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Almaza Air Force Base Airport is an regional airport in north-eastern Cairo, the capital of Egypt. It was established as a civilian aerodrome, but was partly taken over by the British military, designated RAF Heliopolis and later RAF Almaza. Today it is a military aerodrome of the Egyptian Air Force as well as regional civil airport.
The aerodrome was established in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis in February 1910, when Baron Empain organised the first air meeting in Africa. The event was supervised by the Aéro-Club de France, and attracted several leading French aviators, including Hubert Latham, Henri Rougier, Jacques Balsan, Hubert Le Blon, Arthur Duray, and Mme. Raymonde de Laroche. Other entrants included Hans Grade from Germany, Frederick van Riemsdijk from the Netherlands, and Hayden Sands from the USA (although apparently not an official entrant). The only British flier A. Mortimer Singer crashed during a practice flight, breaking his leg, and was forced to withdraw. The aerodrome remained active until the First World War, when the British Army built a new airfield immediately to the south-east. The original airfield site has now been completely built over, and is partially occupied by the Egyptian Military Academy.
During World War I the aerodrome was operated by the British Royal Flying Corps, housing several squadrons as well as a training wing, and then the Royal Air Force, being designated RAF Heliopolis in April 1918. In the inter-war period it remained an active RAF base, housing several squadrons, including No. 208 Squadron RAF which was based there almost continuously from 1927 until 1942.
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