Unit History: RAF Castel Idris

RAF Castel Benito (later RAF Idris) was a Royal Air Force station in Libya between 1943 and 1968. Following the withdrawal of the RAF from Libya the airfield became Tripoli Idris Airport now Tripoli International Airport.
 
During the second world war the base was used by a number of operational squadrons involved in the desert war, sometimes for only a few days or weeks at a time. In 1952 the station was renamed RAF Idras at the request of the Libyan government. The station was used as a staging post for flights from the United Kingdom to the middle east and far east. It was also used in the 1950s as a base for aircraft using the Libyan desert bombing ranges for practice. The station was closed in the late 1960s when the Libyan government became a republic.