Oran Tafaraoui Airport is a joint civil/military airport in Oran Province, Algeria (IATA: TAF, ICAO: DAOL).
Oran Tafaraoui Airport | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public/Military | ||||||||||
Owner | People’s National Army | ||||||||||
Operator | Algerian Air Force | ||||||||||
Serves | Oran, Algeria | ||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 112 m / 367 ft | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 35°32′30″N 000°32′00″W / 35.54167°N 0.53333°W | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
Oran Tafaraoui Location of airport in Algeria | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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During World War II, it was a primary mission objective of the United States Army 34th Infantry Division during the Allied Operation Torch landings on 8 November 1942, and became a major Twelfth Air Force base of operations during the North African Campaign against the German Afrika Korps.
Tafaraoui became a staging and transit point for many units:
The new desert Spitfires of the 31st Fighter Group were also assigned to Tafaraoui. Other aircraft at the field included P-38s of the 14th, B-26s, B-25 Mitchells, A-20 Havocs, Gen. Doolittle's B-17-G, some French Amiot bombers around, and some old wrecks fixed up as dummies.
In 1966 the airport was established as an airbase and training ground for the Algerian Air Force.[3]
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency