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. 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 home for most of the aircraft types that have seen service and the final resting place for almost all retiring planes.
The airbase was built prior to the Lebanon's independence, and has been in use since 1914 by different foreign armies such as the German, Ottoman, British and the French.
Read more about Rayak Air Base: History, Facilities, Aviation School & Technical School, Lebanon Air Force Museum, Hawker Hunters, Attacks, Notable Visits, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words air and/or base:
“My companion and I, having a minute’s discussion on some point of ancient history, were amused by the attitude which the Indian, who could not tell what we were talking about, assumed. He constituted himself umpire, and, judging by our air and gesture, he very seriously remarked from time to time, “you beat,” or “he beat.””
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What I often forget about students, especially undergraduates, is that surface appearances are misleading. Most of them are at base as conventional as Presbyterian deacons.”
—Muriel Beadle (b. 1915)