June 11, 1970. Leaving Libya
F100 Super Saber taking off from Wheelus Air Force Base, Libya.
On this day in 1970 the American military presence in Libya came to an end when the U.S. Air Force turned Wheelus Air Force Base over to the North African country.
Few people today would even be aware that the USAF had a base in Libya, but it first started having a presence at Wheelus during World War Two when it took over the former Italian air field in 1943 after it was captured by the British. It occupied the air field steadily until this date in 1970. During much of that time the US had friendly relations with the country's monarch, King Idris I.
King Idris I of Libya, who reigned from 1951 until 1969. The former king would live out his life in exile in Egypt.
Idris was overthrown in a military coup led by Muammar Gaddafi, who subsequently ruled the "republic" from that point until is his violent death at the hands of a revolutionary crowd in 2011. During Idris' reign the nation went from being one of the poorest in the world to being one of the richest, due to the discovery of oil, and at the same time the purpose of the USAF presence in the country declined to the point of irrelevance. Gaddafi wanted the US out and the US, for its part, was glad to leave.
Wheelus was soon used by the Soviet Air Forces as a base and as a Libyan air force base. It was hit in 1986 by the U.S. during it raid on Libya during the Reagan administration.
USAF FB-111 landing after air strike in Libya in 1986.
The air strip is an airport today.
On the same day William Bentvena was shot by Tommy DeSimone, an event, mostly recalled from the movie Goodfellas. Bentvena was a "made man" of the Gambino crime family and DeSimone would disappear in 1979.
