Airport type Military Location Kabrit, Egypt 14R/32L 2,684 Elevation 475 m | Operator Closed Elevation AMSL 1,560 ft / 475 m 2,684 8,805 Owner Egyptian Air Force | |
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Kibrit Air Base is an operational Egyptian Air Force (Arabic: القوات الجوية المصرية, Al-Qūwāt al-Gawwīyä al-Miṣrīyä) helicopter base located in Egypt, approximately 20 miles north of Suez; 125 km east of Cairo. An SA-342 Gazelle unit is based here. The name of the station came from a nearby village, and in Egyptian means "sulphur كبريت". Kabrit now is the name of a pilot station for Suez canal navigation on the same location.
History
During World War II the facility was known as RAF Station Kabrit, (Landing Ground 213) and was a major Royal Air Force facility which was used during the Western Desert Campaign. In 1941, it was where the Special Air Service (SAS) was formed. Beginning in 1943, United States Army Air Forces Ninth Air Force units arrived to supplement the RAF against the Germans in the Western Desert. After the war, Karbit remained a RAF station, hosting transport squadrons, five circa 1946. This continued until the breakdown in relations between the British and Egyptian governments in 1956, when the decision was taken to pull out British forces from the Suez Canal Zone.
The base was taken over by the Egyptian Air Force and renamed "Kibrit", becoming one of its main air bases. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, it was a base for the EAF 20 Squadron, equipped with twelve Soviet-built MiG-15 aircraft. During the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the base was attacked by the Israeli Air Force, and many of its Soviet-built MiG-17 aircraft were destroyed on the ramp by the IAF's Dassault Mystère IVs. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War with Israel, the airfield was captured by Israeli ground forces that crossed the Suez Canal along with Kasfreet and Shalufa Air Bases, however it was not used by the Israeli Air Force.
Kibrit is being used by the Egyptian Air Force. Currently, the airfield is housing an SA-342 Gazelle unit. Its main runways are having their asphalt removed, but the hangars are still being used for housing the helicopters.