RAF Castel Benito (called originally inItalian "Tripoli-Castel Benito Airport") was an airport ofTripoli created by the Italians inItalian Libya. Originally, it was a small military airport namedCastel Benito, but it was enlarged in the late 1930s and was later used by the BritishRAF after 1943. It was called RAF Castel Benito by the Allies.
1934: ARegia Aeronautica (Italian Air Force) airfield was created on the south edge of ItalianTripoli. It was the operational base for the "15° Stormo da bombardamento" with Savoia Marchetti SM. 79 and SM.81 as well as the "13° Gruppo da caccia" with Fiat CR.32 and CR.42.
1938: The Italian Libya governorItalo Balbo enlarged the military airfield into Tripoli-Castel Benito Airport (located 33 km south of Tripoli) and created an international airport for civilians served mainly byAla Littoria, the official Italian airline: the Aeroporto di Tripoli-Castel Benito. The airport was connected toRome by the "Linee Aeree Transcontinentali Italiane" (LATI), that ran a postal (and civilian service) to Africa, Asia andSouth America fromItaly. The new airport had direct flights toTunis andMalta, run with Savoia-Marchetti SM-73 of "Ala littoria". Castel Benito airport was connected with internal airports of Libya, such as Benghazi (Benina International Airport), Ghadames (Ghadames Airport), Sabha (Sabha Air Base), and Kufra (Kufra Airport). Another flight served by "Ala Littoria" was towards theAfrica Orientale Italiana, with more than 4000 km: it was used mainly for military transport and mail service and was created in 1935, from Tripoli toKassala (Sudan) andAsmara inItalian Eritrea. It was served by the Caproni Ca.308 Borea, with capacity for a crew of 2 but with only 6 passengers.[7]
1938: Air France started a regular flight fromMarseille to Tripoli, later enlarged to Benghazi andDamascus.
1938: The Ala Littoria's international flights from the new civilian airport were:
Rome – Malta – Tripoli
Rome – Tunisi – Tripoli
Rome – Tripoli – Benghazi
Spring 1939: A flight was started to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia: Rome – Tripoli (Benghazi) – Cairo – Khartoum – Asmara – Addis Ababa – Mogadishu (nearly 7000 km)
1939: A passenger service with international travels was started by Ala Littoria to Rome (Italy) andAddis Ababa (Ethiopia and Africa Orientale Italiana): it was one of the first intercontinental flights in world history and was calledLinea dell'Impero. The service was done (using mainly the Benghazi airport, but even the Tripoli-Castel Benito airport) with Savoia-Marchetti SM-83 carrying nearly 30 passengers.
Summer 1939: The possibility was experimented of direct flights between Libya and Eritrea, bypassing Egypt and Sudan controlled by theUnited Kingdom.Bruno Mussolini (a son ofBenito Mussolini), an experienced aviator, flew direct from Castel Benito airport toKufra airport (near the desert border Libya-Sudan) and to Asmara in Italian Eritrea: this new route was used by military airplanes afterWorld War II started.
1939: More and more attracted by the idea of establishing a similar regular service between Italy and Italian East Africa, Bruno Mussolini (in the meantime appointed general manager ofLATI) and his staff carried out a long technical cruise with theirSM83-ATTE to Tripoli and the Kufra Oasis (Libya), Asmara, Massaua, Gura and Agordat (Eritrea). The voyage proved to be very useful to learn those flight experiences necessary for the future war missions. The airport was used also as a military base, where some Savoia-MarchettiS-74 operated successfully as civilian transport airplanes.
November/December 1941 and December 1942/January 1943: The most destructive of many Allied air raids on the airport.
7 January 1943: The last of these airplanes, aSavoia-Marchetti S.74, did the last flight to Italy from Tripoli-Castel Benito airport[2] before theBritish Army arrived.
23 January 1943: The British Army took Tripoli. The airfield was renamed RAF Castel Benito and was used by a number of Allied operational squadrons involved in the desert war and in theTunisia battles, sometimes for only a few days or weeks at a time.
Post-War: The airfield was used as a staging post for flights to and from Central and Southern Africa.[3]
1951: The station was renamed Tripoli Idris Airport.[4] The name was chosen to honour the LibyanKing Idris at the request of the Libyan government. The station was used as a staging post for flights to and from the United Kingdom to the Middle East and Far East. It was also used in the 1950s as a base for aircraft using theLibyan desert bombing ranges for practice.
1960s: The station was used by the UK Royal Air Force for Valiant refuelling tankers. These gave fuel to aircraft flying to and from the UK, aiming to land at airfields further to the East. The tanker aircraft then landed back at Idris having given fuel to the aircraft on the long-range flight
^Rosselli, Alberto. "The air links between Italy and Eastern Africa". Section: The debut of the Transatlantic SM83
^From Betty Clay's diary (not published yet):Sunday, 06 February 1949"Mummy and Daddy left Brussels at one o’clock today, & now (8 pm) they have just come down on the coast of Africa, at Castel Bonito, where they spend half an hour & then up & on again all through the night, touching down for half an hour atKano inNigeria, then on toLeopoldville at 11 a.m. tomorrow" on their way toNdola.
^See the international aviation safety databasehere
Jefford, C.G.RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1988.ISBN1-84037-141-2.
Sturtivant, Ray,ISO and John Hamlin.RAF Flying Training And Support Units since 1912. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 2007.ISBN0-85130-365-X.
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