RAF Gan

Coordinates: 00°41′29″S 073°09′22″E / 0.69139°S 73.15611°E / -0.69139; 73.15611
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RAF Gan
Motto: En Route
Summary
Airport typeMilitary
OwnerMinistry of Defence, UK
OperatorRoyal Air Force (RAF)
LocationGan island, Addu Atoll, Maldives
Built1957; 67 years ago (1957)
In use1957–1 April 1976; 47 years ago (1976-04-01)
Time zoneMaldives Time (MVT) (UTC+5)
Elevation AMSL2 m / 6 ft
Coordinates00°41′29″S 073°09′22″E / 0.69139°S 73.15611°E / -0.69139; 73.15611
Map
RAF Gan is located in Maldives
RAF Gan
RAF Gan
Location on Addu Atoll in the Maldives
RAF Gan is located in Indian Ocean
RAF Gan
RAF Gan
RAF Gan (Indian Ocean)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
10/28 2,650 8,694 concrete
Information correct during operational period by the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force Gan, commonly known as RAF Gan, is a former Royal Air Force station on Gan island, the southern-most island of Addu Atoll, which is part of the larger groups of islands which form the Maldives, in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Its motto is En Route, which signifies its importance as a strategic staging post for enabling RAF aircraft to reach their onward destinations at their bases in the Far East.

Following the departure of the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1976, the former RAF Gan airfield was developed into a civilian airport, and is now known as Gan International Airport.

History[edit]

The area was originally established as a military base for the Royal Navy (RN) in 1941; 83 years ago (1941). Royal Navy engineers began constructing airstrips on Gan island from crushed coral in August 1941 for the Fleet Air Arm (FAA).

The airfield was operational between 1942 and 20 March 1945, as a secondary base for Trincomalee, Ceylon. It was part of HMS Haitan which became HMS Moraga.[1]

During the Second World War, in 1942, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had its bases in the islands of Addu Atoll, Maldives. The RAF first had a presence on Hithadoo in 1942, when a detachment of RAF personnel were sent from RAF China Bay in Ceylon to service and turn around the RAF Short Sunderland and Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats that were flying regularly into the Addu Atoll lagoon. At the end of the war, all military installations were either removed or abandoned.

In 1956–57, at the request of SWRD Bandaranaike, the Royal Air Force handed over its bases in Ceylon to the Royal Ceylon Air Force. The loss of RAF Negombo meant that a replacement staging post was needed between its bases in the Middle East and Far East, and the location was virtually limited to Gan. Hence Royal Air Force Station Gan became established in the late 1950s as a stopover on the reinforcement route to the Far East Air Force based in Singapore. The previous reinforcement route had passed through countries that had formerly been British territory, but were now independent, and sometimes hostile nations. RAF Mauripur, to the west of Karachi, by then a Pakistan Air Force station, had RAF personnel attached for staging airfield purposes up until 1956, when the staging role between the Middle East and Far East fell to RAF Gan.

It was extensively used as a staging post by bombers, fighters, and transports, on their way to Singapore and other destinations in east Asia during the late 1950s and the 1960s. Other foreign military forces, like the US, occasionally used the facilities. However, as the 1970s dawned, the United Kingdom was withdrawing from its commitments east of the Suez. By the end of 1971, the RAF Far East Air Force was disbanded, and the major rationale for Gan was gone. Traffic was now much less frequent, but the base still remained open for a few more years. By 1975, British military aircraft using the base were an extreme rarity. RAF Gan was thus closed and on 1 April 1976, the entire island with its airfield was handed back to the Maldivian Government. At the same time as RAF use of the airfield ceased, the RAF gained access to the then newly built airfield 200 miles (320 kilometres) to the south of Gan on the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) island of Diego Garcia. Shortly after the RAF departed the airbase in the 1977, the Soviet Union reached out to the Maldivian government and requested to use the Gan airbase, however this request was denied by then President Ibrahim Nasir as he wanted the Maldives to remain neutral.[2][3]

The base was used by No. 1125 Marine Craft Unit between 1 May 1970 and 29 March 1976.[4]

RAF Gan today[edit]

Following the handover back to the Maldivian Government, the island was left to fall into disrepair for many years, but as funds allowed, the airfield was subtly developed into a civil airport, and is now known as Gan International Airport. Most of the base is now a tourist resort called Equator Village: the former military buildings remain and have been converted into rooms and other facilities on the resort. The former military hospital is now a dive centre.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 390.
  2. ^ "Soviets Fail in Bid for Indian Ocean Base". The Washington Post. 26 October 1977. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  3. ^ "'Maldives' Dexterous Diplomacy: Global Multilateralism as Foreign Policy". 26 December 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  4. ^ Sturtivant & Hamlin 2007, p. 187.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Sturtivant, Ray; Ballance, Theo (1994). The Squadrons of The Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, UK: Air-Britain (Historians). ISBN 0-85130-223-8.
  • Sturtivant, Ray; Hamlin, John (2007). Royal Air Force flying training and support units since 1912. Tonbridge, UK: Air-Britain (Historians). ISBN 978-0851-3036-59.

External links[edit]