Oran la Senia

  December 1909 to present

  Algeria

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CITY: Oran

IATA/ICAO CODES: ORN / DAOO

COORDINATES: 35°37'N / 00°37'W

OTHER NAMES: Oran la Senia (1909-1962), Oran Es-Senia (1962-2012), Ahmed Ben Bella International (2012-present)

La Senia airfield, a few kilometers south of Oran, was inaugurated on 14 December 1909 when French aviator Julien Servies flew in with a Sommer Monoplane. A flight school was created there the following year. From 1917, the airfield became a French naval base, from where observation baloons were patrolling the coast in search of submarines. La Senia was later turned over to the French Air Force. From 1940, the airbase was belonging to the Vichy French government.

On 9 November 1942, the airfield was bombed on two occasions by British carrier-borne aircraft as part of Operation Torch. An airborne assault on la Senia failed, but the field was captured later in the day by armored units having landed on the beaches. La Senia immediately became USAAF 12^th Air Force's fighter command HQ, and the base to many other bombardment, reconnaissance and transport units. From the late spring of 1943, as the fighting moved east, la Senia was turned over to Air Transport Command's North African Wing.

Following WWII, Oran la Senia became French Air Force Base 141 (BA141), headquarters of the 6^th Fighter Squadron. In 1951, two concrete runways were built at the airfield, making it France's largest airbase at the time. During the Algerian war of independence, la Senia was a cross-service base, also housing French Army armored and infantry units. The 1962 Evian Accords, which granted Algeria its independence, allowed the French military to keep la Senia for two more years, thence it was turned over to the Algerians only in 1964.

Today, Oran la Senia is the city's international airport, renamed after Algeria's first president Ahmed Ben Bella.

1258^th AAF Base Unit (Oran la Senia)

Air Transport Command North African Wing

51^st Troop Carrier Wing (March 1943 to May 1943)

• Curtiss C-46A-40-CU Commando: 42-60963