Camp Speicher

Tikrit Air Academy
Al Sahra Airfield
Near Tikrit, Saladin Governorate in Iraq
Tikrit Air Academy is located in Iraq
Tikrit Air Academy
Tikrit Air Academy
Shown within Iraq
Coordinates34°40′39″N 043°33′02″E / 34.67750°N 43.55056°E / 34.67750; 43.55056
Site information
OwnerMinistry of Defence
OperatorIraqi Air Force
Site history
Built1973 (1973)
In use1973–present
Airfield information
Elevation130 metres (427 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
14/32 3,120 metres (10,236 ft) Asphalt
Lt. Col. Hamann, 52nd Expeditionary Flying Training Squadron commander, performs a preflight visual inspection at Camp Speicher, Sept. 4, 2011
NFL players at FOB Speicher, Feb. 6, 2006

Majid al Tamimi Airbase, officially known as the Tikrit Air Academy and formerly as Al Sahra Airfield (under Saddam Hussein) is an air installation near Tikrit in northern Iraq. The installation is approximately 170 kilometers (105 mi) north of Baghdad and 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) west of the Tigris River. Prior to 2003, Al Sahra Airfield was the main base of the Iraqi Air Force Air Academy.[1] The Marines from Task Force Tripoli captured the base from the Iraqi Army during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq[2] and turned it over to the United States Army who used it as the headquarters of the United States Division–North (USD-N, formerly Multinational Division, North, (MND-N)). The airfield is served by two main runways measuring 9,600 feet (2,900 m) long with a shorter runway measuring 7,200-foot (2,200 m). The Americans named the airfield after Captain Michael Scott Speicher, a United States Navy pilot who was killed in action in Iraq during the Gulf War.

  1. ^ Dina Rasor; Robert Bauman (1 May 2007). Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-4039-8192-9.
  2. ^ Groen 2006, pp. 351.