Rayak Air Base

Rayak Air Base قاعدة رياق الجوية Base Aérienne de Rayak
IATA: none ICAO: OLRA
Summary
Airport type	Military
Owner	Lebanese Armed Forces
Operator	Lebanese Air Force
Location	Rayak, Lebanon
Elevation AMSL	2,953 ft / 900 m
Coordinates	33°51′08″N 35°59′25″E / 33.85222°N 35.99028°E / 33.85222; 35.99028
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 04 3,039 9,970 Concrete (Direction: 046.0) 22 2,969 9,740 Concrete (Direction: 226.0)
Home of first Squadron, Eighth squadron and Fifteenth Squadron

Rayak Air Base (Arabic: قاعدة رياق الجوية | Kaidat Rayak al-jawiya) (ICAO: OLRA) is Lebanon's first air base and the place where the Lebanese Air Force was born on June 1, 1949. In the 1950s, the RAF sent its own instructors to help the Lebanese Airforce. British families accompanied instructors. The base had connections with Airforce bases in Cyprus. It was an idyllic location situated very close to a vineyard which now supplies wines throughout Europe, including London. Located in the middle of the Bekaa Valley to the east, between the towns of Zahlé and Anjar, it symbolizes the Lebanese Air Force best, and is home for most of the aircraft types that have seen service and the final resting place for almost all retiring planes.^[1]

The airfield has been in use since 1914 by various foreign forces such as German, Ottoman, British and French.