Elefsina Air Base () is a military air base situated in

Elefsina Elefsina () or Eleusis ( ; ) is a suburban city and municipality in Athens metropolitan area. It belongs to West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is located in the Thriasio Plain, at the northernmost end of the Saronic Gulf. North of Elefsina ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It is used as the home-base of the 112th Combat Wing (112 Πτέρυγα Μάχης, 112 ΠΜ) of the

Hellenic Air Force The Hellenic Air Force (HAF; , sometimes abbreviated as ΠΑ) is the air force of Greece (''Hellenic'' being the endonym for ''Greek'' in the Greek language). It is considered to be one of the largest air forces in NATO, and is globally placed 1 ...

History

In its current form, the airfield was opened in 1946. However, there had been an airfield and operations on the site from 1937. Elefsina played a crucial role in the final British evacuation during the 1941

Battle of Greece The German invasion of Greece or Operation Marita (), were the attacks on Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Greco-Italian War, was followed by the German invasi ...

, as recounted by

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

in his autobiography ''

Going Solo ''Going Solo'' is a book by Roald Dahl, first published by Jonathan Cape in London in 1986. It is a continuation of his autobiography describing his childhood, ''Boy'' and detailed his travel to Africa and exploits as a World War II pilot. Plot ...

''.

Operations

The 112th Combat Wing includes the following units: * 352 VIP Transport Squadron (352 ΜΜΥΠ) (established in 1957) * 354 Tactical Transport Squadron (354 ΜΤΜ) (established 1970) * 355th Tactical Transport Squadron (355th ΜΤΜ) (established 1947) * 356 Tactical Transport Squadron (356 ΜΤΜ) (established 1953) * 358 Search and Rescue Squadron (358 ΜΕΔ) (established 1958) * 384 Search and Rescue Squadron (384 ΜΕΔ) (established in 2006) Approach operations are handled by the Athens Control Centre, in common with all the other airfields in the area.

Use for support of Israel

Greece is leaving the base to the US forces as a transportation hub to support Israel during the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis confirmed the use of the base for transport aircraft at a press conference.''US Air Force sending planes to Greece as part of Israel-Hamas response, reports say''
- Stripes

References

External links

112th Combat Wing
Airports in Greece Hellenic Air Force bases {{europe-airport-stub