Wheelus Air Base Wheelus Air Base was a United States Air Force base located in the Kingdom of Libya . Wheelus Air Base was originally built by the Italian Air Force in 1923 and known as Mellaha Air Base . Today the facility is known as Mitiga International Airport . World War II . Prior to the war , the airbase was constructed in 1923 and used by the Italian Air Force . In 1933 the roads around the air base and the neighbouring Mellaha Lake became the new home for the popular Tripoli Grand Prix motor race . Mellaha was used by the German Luftwaffe during the North African Campaign , with the Germans using it for short range recon units , as well as coastal and naval recon units . Special weather recon units also existed at Mehalla . The main Luftwaffe unit stationed at the base was the 2nd Staffel of the Aufklärungsgruppe ( H ) 14 or 2 . ( H ) / 14 . The squadron was equipped with twelve single - engined Henschel Hs 126 , an aircraft with 2 - man crews , which could cover approx 710 km , with a maximum speed of 360 km / h , as well as three Fieseler Fi 156 Storch liaison aircraft , and a Junkers Ju 52 for transport of men and materiel . The airbase was captured by the British 8th Army in January 1943 . The US Army Air Force began using Mellaha as a base in January 1943 . It was used by the 376th Bombardment Group ( Heavy ) of the 12th Air Force for B - 24 bomb missions into Italy and southern parts of Germany . In addition , Mellaha Field was used by Air Transport Command . It functioned as a stopover en route to Benina Airport near Benghazi or to Tunis Airport , Tunisia on the North African Cairo - Dakar transport route for cargo , transiting aircraft and personnel . On 15 April 1945 Mellaha AAF was taken over by USAAF ’ s Air Training Command . It was renamed Wheelus Army Air Field ( AAF ) on 17 May 1945 in honor of USAAF Lieutenant Richard Wheelus who had died earlier that year in a plane crash in Iran . Cold War usage by the USAF . Wheelus AAF was inactivated on 15 May 1947 , then reactivated as Wheelus Air Base ( Wheelus AB ) on 1 June 1948 and transferred to the USAF Military Air Transportation Service ( MATS ) . Its host unit under MATS was the 1603d Air Transport Wing . With the crowning of Idris I in 1951 , United States Air Forces in Europe ( USAFE ) - based fighter - bomber units also began using Wheelus AB and its nearby El Uotia Gunnery Range for gunnery and bombing training . A further agreement between the United States and Libya , signed in 1954 , granted the U . S . the use of Wheelus and its gunnery range until December 1971 . With its 4 , 600 Americans , the U . S . Ambassador to Libya once called it " a Little America . . . on the sparkling shores of the Mediterranean , " although temperatures at the base frequently reached 110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit ( 43 to 50 degrees Celsius ) . Military Air Transport Service use . The Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) activated the 1603rd Air Transport Wing at Wheelus on 1 June 1948 . The 1603rd flew C - 47 and C - 54 s to Egypt , Saudi Arabia , and Cyprus , and operated the base transport control center until 1952 . Headquarters , 7th Air Rescue Group was assigned to Wheelus along with the 58th Air Rescue Squadron at about this time . They flew SA - 16 s and H - 19 s . The 56th Air Rescue Squadron , stationed at Sidi Slimane , Morocco , the 57th Air Rescue Squadron stationed at Lajes Field , Azores , and the 59th Air Rescue Squadron , stationed at Dahran AB , Saudi Arabia , were units of the 7th ARGp along with the 58th ARS . At the time the Air Rescue Service was under the command and control of the Military Air Transport Command and Brigadier General Thomas J . Du Bose was Commander of the Air Rescue Service . ( Added by TSgt Paul Garner , USAF ( Ret ) 7th ARS 1955 and the 56th ARS 1956 ) The 58th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron ( 58 ARRS ) operated out of Wheelus until 1970 when they were relocated to the 67th ARRSQ in the UK . The 58 ARRS flew three HH - 3E Jolly Green Giant helicopters , and three HC - 130 refueling tankers . MATS aircraft and personnel from Wheelus participated in Operation Hajji Baba in 1952 . Also in 1952 the MATS 580th Air Resupply and Communications Wing was reassigned to Wheelus from Mountain Home Air Force Base , Idaho . The Wing ( later Group ) supported special operations in the Mediterranean , Middle East and Southwest Asia until being inactivated in 1956 . MATS withdrew and relocated to Rhein Main AB , Germany in January 1953 . However , MATS and later Military Airlift Command ( MAC ) aircraft were frequent visitors at Wheelus and maintained a small detachment there until the base ' s closure in 1970 . Strategic Air Command use . As the Cold War overtook post - World War II international politics , on 16 November 1950 USAF ' s Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) began deploying B - 50 s , B - 36s , B - 47 s and support aircraft ( KB - 29 , KB - 50 , and KC - 97 tankers ) from US air bases to Wheelus . The base became one of several SAC forward operating locations ( FOLs ) in North Africa , becoming a vital link in SAC war plans for use as a bomber , tanker refueling and recon - fighter base . Wheelus hosted SAC bomber deployments in 45 - day rotational deployments , using Wheelus as a staging area for planned strikes against the Soviet Union . SAC ' s use of Wheelus continued until 1970 , when as part of the USAF withdrawal from the base , its rotational deployments ended . USAF use . Wheelus AB was reassigned from MATS to United States Air Forces in Europe ( USAFE ) on 16 October 1951 , under USAFE ' s 7272nd Air Base Wing . The 7272nd was later designated the 7272nd Fighter Training Wing and became the host unit at Wheelus AB until the base ' s closure on 11 June 1970 . 431st Fighter - Interceptor Squadron . The 431st Fighter - Interceptor Squadron was activated when the 107th Fighter Squadron of the Michigan Air National Guard was ordered to active duty in June 1953 . The squadron was reassigned from Selfridge AFB and deployed to Wheelus , where it was equipped with twenty - five F - 86Fs , two T - 33 s , and one C - 47 . The squadron insignia adorned each side of the center fuselage , just over the wing . The tail markings consisted of a red - and - white comet design on the vertical tail . A white lightning flash decorated the red portion of the comet ' s tail . In January 1955 the F - 86D began to replace the F - 86Fs , which were sent to NATO air forces . The squadron ' s tail markings changed with the F - 86Ds having two or three horizontal red chevrons starting at the base of the rudder , with the chevron point touching the vertical fin ' s leading edge and angling towards the upper trailing edge of the rudder . Inside the rearmost chevron was a solid blue triangle . In September 1958 , the 431st FIS moved to Zaragoza Air Base , Spain , and was transferred from USAFE to SAC ' s 16th Air Force . On 1 August 1956 , the Headquarters of 17th Air Force moved to Wheelus Air Base , Libya , from Rabat , Morocco , where it remained until relocating to Ramstein AB , Germany , on 15 November 1959 . Annual Missile Launch Operation ( AMLO ) . The expanse of Libyan desert was used first by the 701st TMW , then later its successor , the 38th Tactical Missile Wing , United States Air Forces in Europe ( USAFE ) , beginning in October 1954 , with three separate live launch operations for all of the operational squadrons using the TM - 61 Matador . Operations Suntan ( October 1954 ) , Sunburst ( June 1955 ) , and Sunflash ( March 1956 ) became annual qualification firings for all Matador squadrons based in Europe . There were 36 Matador launches from Wheelus in 1957 , while there were only 13 launches at Cape Canaveral and only 25 from Holloman AFB in Alamagordo , New Mexico during the same time . The 1958 exercise from October 6 through the 19th of November , called " Operation Marblehead , " utilized 19 C - 130 Hercules and seven C - 124 Globemasters just to move the 339 personnel and equipment of the 71st TMS from Bitburg to Wheelus and back . C - 47 twin engined transports carried personnel back and forth as well . Not only did the 71st take 13 missiles and the required launchers and checkout vans , but also two complete MSQ units , plus personnel to back up the two Shanicle base units that were permanently installed at Wheelus . The exercise was followed by similar deployments from Hahn Air Base , and later Sembach Air Base , all units of the newly formed 38th TMW . The exercises were moved to Patrick AFB , FL , in 1959 for launches at Cape Canaveral . The missile launch area was located 15 miles east of Tripoli , the remote southern section of the base , away from flight operations . Detachment 1 , 20th Fighter - Bomber Wing . The 20th Fighter Bomber Wing , based at RAF Wethersfield UK , established an operational detachment at Wheelus AB , in February 1958 . This detachment managed the USAFE Weapons Training Center for month - long squadron rotations by the Europe - based USAFE tactical fighter wings . This facility allowed USAFE units from Germany , such as the 36th and 49th TFWs in joint operations with their F - 84 " Thunderjet " and the 50th TFW with F - 100 Super Sabre s trained at Wheelus . In addition , the United Kingdom based 20th and 48th TFWs with F - 100Ds , and the 81st TFW trained in air - to - air and air - to - ground gunnery and delivery of conventional ordnance and nuclear " shapes " at the weapons range about further east of the air base . As the F - 4 Phantom II replaced most USAFE fighters in the 1960s , Phantom detachment operations became the predominant activity at Wheelus . USAFE ' s use of Wheelus continued until 1970 , when as part of the USAF withdrawal from the base , desert weapons range training ended . United States withdrawal . Oil was discovered in Libya in 1959 , and what had been one of the world ' s poorest countries became comparatively wealthy . The United States continued a generally warm relationship with Libya and pursued policies centered on interests in operations at Wheelus Air Base and the considerable U . S . oil interests . During the early 1960s , many children of U . S . oil personnel sent to develop the oil field installations and pipelines were allowed to attend the high school facility at Wheelus , typically riding buses from residential areas in or near Tripoli . Classes often had to pause briefly while large aircraft were taking off . The strategic value of the facility had declined with the development of nuclear missiles that had effectively replaced many bomber bases . Indeed , Wheelus had primarily served as a tactical fighter training facility in the 1960s . In September 1969 King Idris I was overthrown by a group of military officers centred on Muammar Gaddafi . Before the revolution , the U . S . and Libya had already reached agreement on U . S . withdrawal from Wheelus ; this proceeded according to plan , and the facility was turned over to the new Libyan authorities on June 11 , 1970 . After 1970 . Following the U . S . withdrawal , the base was renamed Okba Ben Nafi Airfield ( seemingly after the legendary hero Uqba ibn Nafi ) and went into use by the Soviet Union , as well as becoming the headquarters for the Libyan Air Force . The base was bombed by the United States in 1986 during Operation El Dorado Canyon . The airfield was subsequently renamed Mitiga International Airport .