| Gamal Abdel Nasser Airbase | |
| Nativename: | قاعدة جمال عبد الناصر الجوية Qāʿida Ǧamāl ʿAbd an-Nāṣir Ǧawwiyya |
| Type: | Military |
| Operator: | Government |
| Location: | al-ʿAdam, Butnan District, Libya |
| Elevation-F: | 519 |
| Pushpin Map: | Libya |
| Pushpin Label: | Gamal Abdel Nasser Airbase |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Gamal Abdel Nasser Air Base, Libya |
| Metric-Rwy: | y |
| R1-Number: | 02/20 |
| R1-Length-M: | 3016 |
| R1-Surface: | Asphalt |
| R2-Number: | 09/27 |
| R2-Length-M: | 2998 |
| R2-Surface: | Asphalt |
| R3-Number: | 15/33 |
| R3-Length-M: | 3007 |
| R3-Surface: | Asphalt |
Gamal Abdel Nasser Airbase is a Libyan Air Force (Arabic: القوات الجوية الليبية|translit=al-Quwwāt al-Ǧawwiyya al-Lībiyya, Berber: Adwas Alibyan Ujnna) base, located about 16 km south of Tobruk. It is believed to once have had about 60 or 70 Mirage F.1EDs aircraft assigned.
Prior to 31 March 1970, the airfield was known as Royal Air Force Station El Adem (after the nearby settlement al Adm), and used by the RAF primarily as a staging post.[1] Before World War II, it had been an Italian Air Force airfield. A number of the former Italian buildings were seen remaining in 2003, during a courtesy visit by former RAF personnel, at which time no military aircraft were evident.
Royal Air Force Station El Adem was the fuel stop for the BOAC aircraft carrying the new Queen Elizabeth II on her flight from Entebbe to London on 7 February 1952. In 1994, the remaining wreckage of Lady Be Good, a US Army Air Force (USAAF) B-24 Liberator heavy bomber that crashed-landed deep in the Libyan desert during WWII in 1943, was brought to the air base by a local Libyan team led by Dr. Fadel Ali Mohammed (tasked with recovering the plane wreck) for storage and safekeeping. The remnants of the aircraft still remain there.
The airfield was largely reconstructed in 1942 by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and brought into operational use on 12 December 1942. It was used during World War II by the RAF and the United States Army Air Forces during the North African Campaign against Axis forces.
RAF units which used the airfield were:
USAAF Ninth Air Force units which used the airfield were:
Attached to No 235 Wing, Royal Air Force[2]
The airbase is named after the Egyptian revolutionary Gamal Abdel Nasser, who served as President of Egypt. In 2013, the airport was officially reopened as Tobruk International Airport, with flights to Alexandria, Egypt.[3] [4]