Ras Lanuf Airport is an airport in the Sirte District of 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....

, located approximately 227 km south-southwest of Benghazi

Benghazi

Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya, the main city of the Cyrenaica region , and the former provisional capital of the National Transitional Council. The wider metropolitan area is also a district of Libya...

. Its primary use is the transportation of oilfield workers from production facilities in the area.

World War II

During 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...

 the airfield, then known as Hamraiet Airfield was used as a military airfield by the United States Army Air Force 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....

 57th Fighter Group 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...

 against Axis forces. The 57th flew P-40 Warhawks from the airfield between 3-19 January 1943 before moving forward with the British Eighth Army.

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