Alexandria Marine Airport was a marine air facility located within the Western Harbour of Alexandria, Egypt. In the 1930s, this was an important aviation facility, used by Imperial Airways flying boats transiting from Europe to destinations in Africa and the Middle-east. The port is located just east of the Ras-el-Tin palace.[1] Little remains of the marine airport today and the site appears to be part of a shipyard.
Alexandria Marine Airport and Biggles[]
In Biggles in the Orient, 666 Sqn arrives here from Malta in an Imperial Airways flying boat but they did not have long. They were transfered to a Wellington which took them to Baghdad. The Wellington probably departed from Aboukir Airfield.
In Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D. the Imperial flying boat Calpurnia took off from here. There is no room for the Air Police crew on the flight so they have to proceed to the landplane airport (probably Aboukir) to follow in their own aircraft. Aboukir is almost 21 km away, which probably contributes to the result that they catch up with the Calpurnia a little too late.
In The Sheikh and the Greek, Biggles, Algy and Smyth start the story in Alexandria. With a Vickers Vandal, they could have landed here or at the landplane airfield at Aboukir.
This US Army map shows that as at 1959, the marine airport (centre of map, click to enlarge) was probably still there.
The red pin on this map shows the location of the marine airport as inferred from maps (you can switch between map and satellite view and zoom in and out). The patch of green just to the west is the garden of the Ras-el-Tin palace.
References[]
- ↑ International Air Guide: The Reference Book on Civil and Commercial Aviation, Imprimerie Crété S.A., Paris, France, 1931 reprinted 2017.
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