Eknes Field

  Unknown dates

  Senegal

CITY: Rufisque

IATA/ICAO CODES: --- / ----

COORDINATES: 14°43'N / 17°14'W

OTHER NAMES: Nil

Before the war, a small airfield was built at Rufisque, in the outskirts of Dakar.

On December 1942, the United States and the Vichy Governor General of French West Africa reached an agreement for allied forces to use the airdromes, harbors, roads, and other facilities in French West Africa. As the existing Dakar Ouakam airport was found too small, the United States were also granted the right to construct a new airfield in Dakar, which would later become Mallard Field. While the later was under construction, the USAAF took over the small airfield in Rufisque and named it Eknes Field. Within a few months, two 6,000-foot runways were ready at Eknes, and it became the main Air Transport Command base in the Dakar area until June 1944, when Mallard Field was completed and all personnel and facilities were moved there.

Air Transport Command North African Wing (December 1942 to June 1944)