Louis Gentil Field is an abandoned airfield in Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

, located approximately 6 km north-northeast of Youssoufia (Doukkala-Abda); about 170 km southwest of Casablanca

Casablanca

Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...

History

Prior to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Louis Gentil Airport was a regional airport built by the French Colonial government, named after a colonialist. The airport was seized by invading Allied forces shortly after the Operation Torch

Operation Torch

Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....

 landings in November 1942 and used by the United States Army Air Force as a Twelfth Air Force fighter airfield during the North African Campaign

North African campaign

During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...

.

The 91st and 92d Fighter squadrons of the 81st Fighter Group briefly used the airfield from mid-December 1942 through early 1943 flying P-39 Aircobras. The squadrons moved up to Mediouna Airfield

Médiouna Airfield

Médiouna Airfield is an abandoned military airfield in Morocco, located in the Casablanca area.-History:Established as a French military airfield in French Morocco during the 1920s, after the Fall of France in June, 1940, the reconstituted Vichy Air Force established a military airfield at the...

, and the airfield was returned to civil control.

Today the remains of the main runway can be seen in an agricultural field, but no structures remain.