Ben Guerir Air Base

Ben Guerir Air Base is a Royal Moroccan Air Force base in the Marraksh-Safi region, located about 36mi north of Marrakech, near the town of Ben Guerir. It previously served as a United States Air Force base and Transatlantic Abort Landing (TAL) site for the Space Shuttle.HistoryBen Guerir was established in 1951 by the U.S. Strategic Air Command (SAC) as one of five bases constructed in what was then French North Africa for SAC during a "crash program" which began in 1950. The base was located to allow for the rapid deployment of nuclear-armed Boeing B-47 Stratojets, without requiring aerial refueling. KC-97 Stratofreighters were also deployed from the base. In 1956, the entire RB-47E force operated by the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing's 322nd, 323rd and 324th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons spent 90 days at Ben Guerir on temporary duty assignment. SAC occupied the base until 1963; the base operating unit was the 3926th Air Base (Later "Combat Support") Group, assigned to the 5th Air Division and later to the 4310th Air Division.