Muqeible Airfield is an abandoned military airfield located in the northern West Bank

West Bank

The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

, approximately 1 km southwest of the village of Muqeible

Muqeible

Muqeible or Muqeibla , meaning "The front place", is an Israeli Arab town located in Israel's North District, in the Jezreel Valley between Ta'anakh and Jenin. It is a part of the Gilboa Regional Council...

, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 and 3 km north of Jenin

Jenin

Jenin is the largest town in the Northern West Bank, and the third largest city overall. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major agricultural center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, the city had a population of 120,004 not including the adjacent refugee...

.

The airfield was built in the British Mandate of Palestine and was used as a military airfield by the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

, being designated RAF Muqeible. It was also used by the United States Army Air Force during the 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...

 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...

. USAAF Ninth Air Force

Ninth Air Force

The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina....

 units were assigned to the airfield upon their initial arrival in the area, and once assembled were reassigned to combat airfields in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 to fly missions against the Axis forces in Western Egypt and Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

. Known USAAF units which used the airfield were:

• 57th Fighter Group, 20 July-15 September 1942, P-40 Warhawk
• 64th Fighter Squadron, 19 August-16 September 1942
• 65th Fighter Squadron, 29 July-5 August 1942; 29 August-16 September 1942

After the war, the airfield appears to have been abandoned. Today, the airfield consists of two crumbling concrete runways, one aligned northeast/southwest about 02/20, the other east-west 09/18. The east-west still remaining full width and length, with a road laid down over the runway. Agricultural fields have been formed from the grassy areas of the airfield but no structures remain of the support base. Small concrete farm roads in the vicinity of the airfield runways are the remainders of taxiways